Massive wildfire in Fort McMurray destroys buildings Largest Evacuation.

First thread hope putting in the right spot.

Been following the news past few hours. Large wildfire looks to have entered city of Fort McMurray in Alberta.

A massive wildfire is threatening the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, forcing people out of their homes. The fire initially started on Sunday, but has grown rapidly since and has now made its way into the city of Fort McMurray and surrounding areas. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for several neighborhoods in different parts of Fort McMurray on Tuesday afternoon with voluntary evacuations in place for the rest of the city. Several homes have also been destroyed as of late Tuesday afternoon.

Wildfire prompts mandatory evacuation order for all of Fort McMurray, Alberta, authorities say

So far, the blaze has burned over 2,600 hectares (10 square miles) and continues to grow. "The fire conditions are extreme," Darby Allen, regional fire chief for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, said during an 11 a.m. update Tuesday. "The humidity levels are going to be decreased quicker because the ambient temperature is hotter, so that means the fire will be able to go more ferociously and quicker than in days previously," Allen added.

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Reading some twitter feed with some saying Hotel has burned to the ground.

Twitter Feed

Hospital also being evacuated trying to get critical patience first.
Thankfully everyone in hospital was evacuated.

Nearly 30,000 people were under a mandatory evacuation order to flee the Fort McMurray region Tuesday afternoon. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo issued a mandatory evacuation for 12 communities at 4:15 p.m. as the wildfire situation worsened. The order was issued for: Abasand, Beacon Hill, Gregoire, Waterways, Draper, Saline Creek, Grayling Terrace, downtown, Thickwood, Wood Buffalo, Dickinsfield and Lower Townsite. RELATED Fort McMurray wildfire: Boreal forests designed to burn, makes fighting it a challenge Fort McMurray wildfire: ‘The fire conditions are extreme’: fire chief on how fire will be worse on Tuesday Fort McMurray wildfire: High temps and low humidity will be challenging on Tuesday Scott Long of Alberta Emergency Management said the flames have burned a number of structures, but he couldn’t say how many. One hotel was seen engulfed in flames. The hospital in Fort McMurray – the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre – was being evacuated at 5:20 p.m. As of 5 p.m. Noralta Lodge’s village location was full, and residents were being asked to head further north to Noralta’s Grey Wolf location, 63 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.

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Several homes have been impacted. Hundreds of firefighters are on the fire. It jumped 63 at several places

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Fire chief calls this 'worst day of his career' as thousands evacuated due to Fort McMurray, Alberta, wildfire -

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Telus waiving cost of calls and texts for Fort McMurray customers until May 17

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Hope everyone in the area is able to get out with minimum damage life and property.

North is the only way out at this point, the south highway is plugged with traffic.

There's not much to the north. Also I've been hearing the population is 60,000. And now the whole town is under mandatory evacuation.
North.

a reply to: lurksoften

I can't believe how many vehicles are traveling that highway that close to the fire. We had a forest fire north of my town a few years ago and my wife and I were cruising the back roads before they were closed off and we were parked real close but I figured we were fine where we were cuz of the winds but she said let's get the hell out of there, so I drove us back about a quarter mile, looked back and that whole area we were just parked in was fully engulfed in flames towering over the trees. Crazy how fast the fire can turn.

a reply to: snowspirit

Yeah looks like the fire changed dramatically and was not expecting it to do this. Asking for more Fire Fighters , Tankers , and equipment. All flights in are cancelled and the people fleeing north are going to campsites that are set up.

Looks like heading north for some is not possible

Headed north to safety but this was Abasand hill at 3:45pm when we got out

From what I can see, it's chaos.

The city is being evacuated and people are confused to say the least. Last night, everyone went to bed thinking the threat had passed, but when they got up, the fire had doubled in size.

Highway 63 (going south) is jammed solid. The fire jumped the river and now is growing on the north side. The airport is in danger and flights are being cancelled. No wonder Notley is thinking twice about being there tomorrow.

Let's hope it never reaches the infrastructure on the oil patch.

That's pretty crazy.
I hope everyone can get out safe and that the fire gets resolved as quickly as humanly possible.
I even feel bad for the animals in the forest prolly trying to flee too cause it looks bad.

The situation has become extreme, to say the least. I have friends and family in the community and can "feel" the stress in their voices when we talk. At present, I am 4 hours south of Ft. Mac and I am amazed how quickly things have escalated. It has been an extremely mild winter with out the usual amount of snow fall. This whole province is extremely dry. The next few days will be just shy of 30c and windy. A very bad mix for containing the blaze. My heart goes out to all at "The Mac".
A reminder to all......please have your "Bug Out Bag" ready and stay safe.

They really need to put in more roads in and out of these towns that are surrounded by so much forest. A couple of years ago the Hwy to the south was only half what it is now...

a reply to: Aftrmidnyt

Every resident (approx. 80000 for those who aren't familiar) has now been ordered to evacuate. If they didn't have bug out bags, I hope every at least has a mode of travel and a full tank of gas.

I hope your friends are headed towards safety. By the looks of it, the south highway may soon become impassable as the fire jumps it.

I hope they can evacuate all those people. Twitter feed was saying hospital covered in smoke and gas station exploded. Looks so scary. It's so close to the highway.

Things are getting really, really dangerous...

The entire city of 60,000 has been ordered evacuated. Residents fleeing the fire have caused gridlock on Highway 63 leading north and south out of the city.

Homes in Beacon Hill and the Centennial Trailer Park have been destroyed.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the fire moved into the downtown core.

www.cbc.ca...

Thank You Atsbhct.
I spoke with my niece on my way home from work. She was seriously freaked out. Leaving from work in Ft. Mac and driving to Anzac, (a community 1/2 hour south), she had fire on both sides of the highway as well as jumping overhead over her vehicle. That highway is now closed. Their home is filling up with "guests". She picked up some folks on the highway on the way home because their car was on fire and they were stranded....and she has a huge heart. People staying in their home, setting up tents in their yard. Their will be a great deal of fear and adrenaline there tonight....as well as safety and companionship.
I will post back as I hear more.
a reply to: Atsbhct

What you need to know if you are in the area

Thank you masqua.
Snowspirit, you are abloslutely correct. The "one road in/out is insanity. It has finally improved to 2 lanes each north and south recently, which is a massive improvement to what it used to be. Another option to drive out would be great, but probably not going to happen.
Stay safe all.

Saying weather will be just as bad tomorrow also with some relief not till Thursday with some rain maybe.

Thousands flee in largest fire evacuation in Alberta's history

As tens of thousands flee a ferocious wildfire in Fort McMurray, some residents are openly wondering what will be left to come back to.

More than 80,000 residents have been ordered to flee the oilsands city — the largest fire evacuation in Alberta’s history, including from the massive Slave Lake wildfires five years ago.

People evacuating their homes downtown reported seeing helicopters dropping water or fire retardant on the municipal buildings on Franklin Avenue. Highway 63 north and south of town became choked with traffic Tuesday afternoon as waves of residents fled the city. Abasand resident Mallory Hood drove past the ‘Welcome to Fort McMurray’ sign on her way out of town and said it looked like it was on fire.

Meanwhile, about 50 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, many evacuees found shelter in Fort McKay, where the First Nations and Metis communities have banded together to mobilize emergency resources.

Hundreds of people have arrived so far with more on the way, said Dwayne Roth, CEO of the the Fort McKay Metis Community Association.

“It’s jam-packed, bumper-to-bumper with vehicles from Fort McMurray,” said Roth.

Unseasonably hot temperatures combined with dry conditions have transformed the boreal forest in much of Alberta into a tinder box. The wildfire threat ranges from very high to extreme.

The province was calling in more reinforcements to Fort McMurray, including 100 more firefighters and a giant helicopter that can dump more than 2,000 litres of water at a time.

Thomas said he’s on the way to the evacuation centre with nothing but the clothes on his back.

“It’s going to be an intense 24 hours as we work our way through this, but it truly is a catastrophic event.”

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People already running out of gas waiting in lines to evacuate.[

Camp Location in McMurray Map

a reply to: lurksoften

Not to be an asshole but this proves just how quickly you can be up #s creek if you're not prepared.

Especially those people stuck waiting in line for gas..not what I'd want to be doing with a massive fire coming towards me.

Hoping there are as few casualties as possible for those escaping the blaze.

Fuel is becoming a problem. Not fuel for the fire, there’s plenty for that in this dry area… fuel for vehicles attempting to escape the fire.

Winds are expected to shift to the southeast today and will eventually start coming out of the north at around 50KM per hour. The temperature will go up to 30+ Cels, which will only make matters worse.

The best hope is for cooler temps and some rain showers in the near future.

The masses of people travelling out of the city left Fort McMurray with no gas as of Tuesday night.

"There's no more fuel in Fort McMurray and it's being drained as we go south," said Schmitte.

Other people heading southbound set up in Anzac and Lac La Biche. But when Highway 63 was closed for several hours on Tuesday evening, another stream of those forced from their homes headed north to find temporary lodging at oilsands camps in the area.

"Realistically, we are seeing camps fill up. The camps closer to town have been filled," said Robin Smith, spokesman for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. "People are pushing on toward Syncrude [further north].”

www.cbc.ca...

The last bit of news I have heard as of this morning says that the province has requested the military for help. But so far no requests for further fire support. Probably because it is at the point of no return. The City of Fort McMurray is basically a write off (I hope not, but this may be the reality) as they aren't fighting the fire anymore, but are instead focused of evacuation.

That said, if and when they choose to rebuild, one can only hope that they DON'T listen to industry/politicians and instead listen to engineers and don't rebuild with WOODEN BUILDINGS!

It's the 21st century... Why don't we build fireproof buildings? Oh, that's right...that would put the firefighter racket out of business.

I suppose the main reason I post this is I was wondering if there is a possibility for the tar sands to catch fire like some of the coal mines that have been burning for years ?

Excuse my ignorance it is a sincere question..

a reply to: Sparkymedic

I wouldn't say its a "write off" yet. Here is the damage as of 4am Alberta time.