# Fort McMurray, Alberta: Massive Wildfire, 80,000 Ordered to Evacuate **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849 "2016-05-04T03:14:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/1 "2016-05-04T03:14:17Z")
> [@](#): > > The entire population of the Canadian oil sands city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, has been ordered to evacuate as a wildfire whipped by winds engulfed homes and sent ash raining down on residents. > > More than 80,000 residents have been ordered to flee… [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the\_americas/wildfires-cause-chaos-in-canada-town/2016/05/03/46d1dae0-118d-11e6-a9b5-bf703a5a7191\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/wildfires-cause-chaos-in-canada-town/2016/05/03/46d1dae0-118d-11e6-a9b5-bf703a5a7191_story.html) This city is more than 500 miles north of the U.S/Canadian border. It really surprises me that there would be such a massive wildfire so far north and relatively early in the year. Global warming a possible partial cause? Or are wildfires common in this area? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/2 "2016-05-04T03:40:18Z")
Wildfires are very common in the boreal forest. A 950 square km fire threatened the northern community of La Ronge in Saskatchewan for a few weeks last summer, and the plume of smoke extended down into the States. [2015 SK fire map](http://www.environment.gov.sk.ca/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.aspx?DocID=77bfcfa2-921c-4414-9a62-284ab6b83fa6&MediaID=3dd88c71-dbdd-47dc-9c84-25ec7b97880a&Filename=Fire+History+2015+-+Map.pdf&l=English) (warning - large file, grey areas burned last year). It’s a bit early for big fires, but there hasn’t been much spring precipitation and it’s unseasonably warm, so it’s hardly shocking. Bit surprised they’ve call for all of Ft Mac to evacuate, but these things happen. Just 5 years ago several hundred homes in Slave Lake, AB were burned when a forest fire went through. ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/3 "2016-05-04T05:17:30Z")
Its crazy dry here in Alberta. Its rained about three times in the last six weeks. Normally we would have quite a bit of precipitation during this time. Fort Mac is fairly north and they do see some harsh temps in winter but it is dry and hot there right now. Tough times for Fort Mac. Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/4 "2016-05-04T05:46:06Z")
Has anyone seen any predictions of how much of the city will burn down? ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/5 "2016-05-04T17:12:52Z")
There is one figure floating around that 1600 homes have been destroyed. But data is changing regularly. I am watching in horror. Highway 63 south is open for evacuees and north lanes only for rescue /emergency personel. The hospital was evacuated by air. There were 9 babies in NICCU , they all have beds and are safe. Two babies were apparently born in evacuation centres north of the city.The picture that hurts the most is seeing what was a home, and nothing left but the iron gazebo framework and a brass headboard. Canadian Red Cross is the best way to help. I have already sent off a donation to the Canadian Red Cross marked for #YMMfirerelief. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/6 "2016-05-04T18:16:48Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Has anyone seen any predictions of how much of the city will burn down? The behaviour of a wildfire is difficult to predict, which is why parts of Fort McMurray are gone. You don’t really know what might happen next. The fire at last report was completely uncontrollable and firefighting efforts have been in vain. It is entirely possible that there will be little damage done after I’ve finished typing this. It is also entirely possible that the flames will consume the entire town. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/7 "2016-05-04T20:02:41Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > This city is more than 500 miles north of the U.S/Canadian border. It really surprises me that there would be such a massive wildfire so far north and relatively early in the year. Wherever there’s forest, there will be forest fires. And there’ll be more fires when conditions are hot and dry, like they are now. > [@PastTense](#): > > Global warming a possible partial cause? Or are wildfires common in this area? To paraphrase Prime Minister Trudeau this morning, using one incident to argue climate change is uproductive and not entirely accurate. It would be the same as the American politician who held up a snowball to “prove” there was no global warming. It takes long-term research and statistics to determine climate trends. Having said that, this is the second year in a row, and the third in about five years, that forest fires have been playing havoc in Western Canada due to unusually hot, dry springs. If this is a trend, northern communities are going to have to come up with some sort of defensive strategy, like maybe clearing the forests around them. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/8 "2016-05-04T20:15:42Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > This city is more than 500 miles north of the U.S/Canadian border. It really surprises me that there would be such a massive wildfire so far north and relatively early in the year. The wildfire season in Alaska begins in February and goes thru November every year. Most fires are in May-August. [Climate change](http://assets.climatecentral.org/pdfs/AgeofAlaskanWildfires.pdf) (PDF warning) has almost doubled the hot season in the past 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/9 "2016-05-04T21:53:41Z")
Update on CBC for those interested: [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/live-blog-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-1.3565398](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/live-blog-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-1.3565398) If this hasn’t been an incentive for me to get off my duff and put the rest of our go bags together I don’t know what will be. This could just as easily be Cold Lake. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/10 "2016-05-04T21:58:47Z")
Better link [here](http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/breaking/fort-mcmurray-wildfire/). ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/11 "2016-05-05T04:51:21Z")
I misread Fort McMurray as “Fred MacMurray”. I wonder if massive wildfire is covered by double indemnity. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/12 "2016-05-05T06:34:21Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > This city is more than 500 miles north of the U.S/Canadian border. It really surprises me that there would be such a massive wildfire so far north and relatively early in the year. Why are you surprised? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/13 "2016-05-05T12:59:35Z")
The OP likely think’s we’re under 10’ of snow until June. 🙂 When I worked in Calgary back in the late 90s I was surprised by how dry it was even in May/June compared to Ottawa. The city was under a haze of smoke from northern fires in middle of June. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/14 "2016-05-05T14:49:49Z")
I grew up in Northern Ontario. May and June are especially bad for forest fires. Boreal forest is pretty much coniferous, and the leaves generally aren’t out on the shrubby vegetation and secondary growth trees. Its the deadwood and the underbrush that really lights up, and the tops of the jackpine, pine, and spruce can just throw sparks everywhere. The air gets smoky or hazy, and the sunsets are vivid smoky orange. Last year all the fires here around Vancouver left the sky a flat metal grey with a glowing orb like pink salmon hanging in the sky in place of the sun. I had summer jobs with Ontario’s ministry of natural resources a few years. People working in the fire center, and even in other areas are all impacted by the “all resources to fire management” hustle that goes on. Its a regular occurrence for entire First Nations communities to be airlifted out. This is not a new problem for northern Canada, but the massive scale of the YMM fire is an operational/logistics nightmare. Again, Red Cross is the way to help. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/15 "2016-05-05T15:33:46Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > The OP likely think’s we’re under 10’ of snow until June. 🙂 It gets down to what, three or four feet in July? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/16 "2016-05-05T15:43:30Z")
3, but that’s with lake affect snow. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/17 "2016-05-05T20:15:29Z")
The fire grew _eight times larger overnight_.:eek: > [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > I grew up in Northern Ontario. May and June are especially bad for forest fires. Boreal forest is pretty much coniferous, and the leaves generally aren’t out on the shrubby vegetation and secondary growth trees. Its the deadwood and the underbrush that really lights up, and the tops of the jackpine, pine, and spruce can just throw sparks everywhere… CBC reporter Don Pittis fought forest fires before he went into journalism. In a column he wrote about it, he gives another reason why spring fires can be worse: > [@](#): > > And spring fires are strange things. Despite hot conditions up on the surface, the ground and deep roots can remain frozen, meaning the trees are not yet flush with water. In spring fires even deciduous trees, normally a partial firebreak, can flare up in eerie yellow smoke. > **[ANALYSIS | The unstoppable power of a giant forest fire: Don Pittis | CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/fort-mcmurray-fire-experience-1.3565940)** > > As Canadian hearts go out to the people who lost everything in a night of terror, a former firefighter explains why giant forest fires are so terrifying and unstoppable. Don Pittis spent nearly a decade fighting fires in Ontario and the N.W.T., and... ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/18 "2016-05-05T20:30:02Z")
Just so you guys know, Pet Valu here in Canada is collecting donations toward the Red Cross and the Fort McMurray SPCA. Also the Fort McMurray and Edmonton SPCA are in need of donations to help the animals left behind. Before anybody freaks out about people leaving behind their animals, in every instance I’ve heard of the people were away (at work, out of town, etc.) when the order to evacuate was issued and they were not allowed to go to their homes. In other instances it’s larger animals such as horses that could not be moved. People are letting their horses go free (after writing their contact info on the fur and posting photos on social media) to give them a chance. They can use all the help they can get, please donate if you can. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/19 "2016-05-05T20:46:15Z")
Where do the people go when they evacuate? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849/20 "2016-05-05T20:56:12Z")
I’ve had CTV News Channel on in the background while I get some work done on the computer, and some of the video footage is unreal: cars driving on roads beside which fire is raging, and one incredible one where cars are evacuating while burning embers fly around them. Sounds like evacuation orders have been issued for areas previously thought safe. This just on: AirBnB has opened up its properties in Edmonton to evacuees, at no cost to them. I’m probably 900 km (550 miles) south of Fort Mac, so our little city is in no danger. People are doing what they can, though, with donations for relief; and our fire department has offered to send firefighters and equipment if they are asked. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849.md?page=2)