FORT MCMURRAY/LAC LA BICHE: Canada began airlifting to safety up to 25,000 people from the city of Fort McMurray forced from their homes by raging forest fires in Alberta’s oil sands region.
About 8,000 people have already been airlifted, while a mass migration of cars will move south.
The authorities ordered the oil city of 100,000 people to be evacuated after firefighters backed by air tankers and helicopters failed to prevent the monster blaze from engulfing entire neighborhoods.
Some 4,000 people who fled to the north of the city have been airlifted to Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said, adding that the hope is to airlift 8,000 by the end of the day.
“Right now we are working with industry to do as much air evacuation as possible,” she said.
The Alberta provincial government, which declared a state of emergency, said more than 1,100 firefighters, 145 helicopters, 138 pieces of heavy equipment and 22 air tankers were fighting the fire, but Chad Morrison, Alberta’s manager of wildfire prevention, said rain is needed.
“Let me be clear: Air tankers are not going to stop this fire,” he said. “It is going to continue to push through these dry conditions until we actually get some significant rain.”
The fire continued to grow, but it is moving away from Fort McMurray and the rate of its growth has slowed. No rain clouds were expected around Fort McMurray until late Saturday, with 40 percent chance of showers, according to forecasts by Environment Canada.
More than 80,000 people have emptied Fort McMurray in the heart of Canada’s oil sands, authorities said.
About 25,000 evacuees moved north in the hours after Tuesday’s mandatory evacuation, where oil sands work camps were converted to house people. But the bulk of the more than 80,000 evacuees fled south to Edmonton and elsewhere, and officials are moving everyone south where they can get better support services.
Officials flew 8,000 evacuees to Edmonton and Calgary by Thursday night. They hope the highway will become safe enough on Friday to move the remaining people out via the south. It was not safe Thursday.
A helicopter will lead the evacuation convoy on Friday morning to make sure the highway is safe. It will pass through Fort McMurray where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the first convoy will be 400 vehicles and officials would see how that goes.
There have been no injuries or death in the province from the fires. Notley said financial support will be provided to Albertans and that cash cards may be made available for evacuated residents.
“And we are doing everything we can to open the highways so we can get fuel up there and then get those folks moving south as quickly as we can.”
The airlift, carried out with government and petroleum industry aircraft, began after evacuees who found refuge north of the city risked becoming trapped if shifting winds were to send the flames spreading toward them.
The government has declared a state of emergency in Alberta, a province the size of France that is home to one of the world’s most prodigious oil industries.
More than 1,100 firefighters are battling 49 separate blazes across the province, seven of them totally out of control.
The fires have engulfed 85,000 hectares (210,000 acres) of forest including 12,000 in the area surrounding Fort McMurray, now the epicenter of the inferno, where 2,000 homes have been destroyed.
About 8,000 people have already been airlifted, while a mass migration of cars will move south.
The authorities ordered the oil city of 100,000 people to be evacuated after firefighters backed by air tankers and helicopters failed to prevent the monster blaze from engulfing entire neighborhoods.
Some 4,000 people who fled to the north of the city have been airlifted to Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said, adding that the hope is to airlift 8,000 by the end of the day.
“Right now we are working with industry to do as much air evacuation as possible,” she said.
The Alberta provincial government, which declared a state of emergency, said more than 1,100 firefighters, 145 helicopters, 138 pieces of heavy equipment and 22 air tankers were fighting the fire, but Chad Morrison, Alberta’s manager of wildfire prevention, said rain is needed.
“Let me be clear: Air tankers are not going to stop this fire,” he said. “It is going to continue to push through these dry conditions until we actually get some significant rain.”
The fire continued to grow, but it is moving away from Fort McMurray and the rate of its growth has slowed. No rain clouds were expected around Fort McMurray until late Saturday, with 40 percent chance of showers, according to forecasts by Environment Canada.
More than 80,000 people have emptied Fort McMurray in the heart of Canada’s oil sands, authorities said.
About 25,000 evacuees moved north in the hours after Tuesday’s mandatory evacuation, where oil sands work camps were converted to house people. But the bulk of the more than 80,000 evacuees fled south to Edmonton and elsewhere, and officials are moving everyone south where they can get better support services.
Officials flew 8,000 evacuees to Edmonton and Calgary by Thursday night. They hope the highway will become safe enough on Friday to move the remaining people out via the south. It was not safe Thursday.
A helicopter will lead the evacuation convoy on Friday morning to make sure the highway is safe. It will pass through Fort McMurray where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the first convoy will be 400 vehicles and officials would see how that goes.
There have been no injuries or death in the province from the fires. Notley said financial support will be provided to Albertans and that cash cards may be made available for evacuated residents.
“And we are doing everything we can to open the highways so we can get fuel up there and then get those folks moving south as quickly as we can.”
The airlift, carried out with government and petroleum industry aircraft, began after evacuees who found refuge north of the city risked becoming trapped if shifting winds were to send the flames spreading toward them.
The government has declared a state of emergency in Alberta, a province the size of France that is home to one of the world’s most prodigious oil industries.
More than 1,100 firefighters are battling 49 separate blazes across the province, seven of them totally out of control.
The fires have engulfed 85,000 hectares (210,000 acres) of forest including 12,000 in the area surrounding Fort McMurray, now the epicenter of the inferno, where 2,000 homes have been destroyed.
