Wildfire evacuees glimpse burned out city on way south

EDMONTON, Alberta – Displaced residents at oil field camps north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, got a sobering drive-by view of their burned-out city Friday in a convoy that moved evacuees south amid a massive wildfire that officials fear could double in size by the end of Saturday.

As police and military oversaw the procession of hundreds of vehicles, a mass airlift of evacuees also resumed. A day after 8,000 people were flown out, authorities said 5,500 more were expected to be evacuated by the end of Friday and another 4,000 on Saturday.

More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray in the heart of Canada’s oil sands, where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings. The mass evacuation forced as much as a quarter of Canada’s oil output offline, according to estimates, and is expected to impact a country already hurt by a dramatic fall in the price of oil.

About 1,200 vehicles had passed through Fort McMurray by late Friday afternoon despite a one-hour interruption because of heavy smoke, authorities said.

Jim Dunstan was in the convoy with his wife, Tracy, and two young sons.

“It was shocking to see the damaged cars all burned on the side of the road. It made you feel lucky to get out of there,” he said.

In Edmonton, between 4,500 and 5,000 evacuees arrived at the airport on at least 45 flights Friday, said airport spokesman Chris Chodan. In total, more than 300 flights have arrived with evacuees since Tuesday, he said.

A group that arrived late Friday afternoon was greeted by volunteers who handed out bottled water and helped direct people where to go next.

Among them was 32-year-old Chad Robertson, a fuel truck driver who was evacuated from Husky Energy’s Sunrise project, northeast of Fort McMurray. He said when the fire started, even though the flames were relatively far away, “everyone started panicking.”

The Alberta provincial government, which declared a state of emergency, said Friday the size of the blaze had grown to more than 249,571 acres. No deaths or injuries were reported.

Chad Morrison, Alberta’s manager of wildfire prevention, said Friday “there is a high potential that the fire could double in size by the end of tomorrow.”

Morrison said no amount of resources would put the fire out. They need rain.

“We have not seen rain in this area for the last two months of significance,” Morrison said. “This fire will continue to burn for a very long time until we see some significant rain.”

Environment Canada forecast a 40 percent chance of showers in the area Sunday.

Morrison said he expected the fire to expand into a more remote forested area, but said dry conditions and a hot temperature of 81 degrees were expected Saturday along with strong winds. He said cooler conditions were expected Sunday and Monday.

The Alberta government is providing cash to 80,000 evacuees from the Fort McMurray fire to help them with their immediate needs. Premier Rachel Notley said her Cabinet has approved a payment of $967 in U.S. dollars per adult and $387 per dependent, at a cost to the province of $77 million.

The fire is so large that smoke is blanketing parts of the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, where Environment Canada has issued special air quality statements for several areas.

Morrison, the wildfire prevention manager, said the cause of the fire hasn’t been determined, but it started in a remote forested area and could have been ignited by lightning.

The region has the third-largest reserves of oil in the world, behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.