May 7, 2016 by By John Cotter - THE CANADIAN PRESS
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – Fire officials are bracing themselves for a long, long fight against the blaze that forced the evacuation of Fort McMurray and has eaten up more than 1,500 square kilometres of northern Alberta forest.
“Unless we have a significant rain event of 100 millimetres of rain, we expect to be out fighting the fire in the forested area for months to come,” Chad Morrison with Alberta Wildfires told a media briefing Saturday afternoon.
“That’s not uncommon with such large fires.”
As for the city of Fort McMurray, he said he expected they would get a good handle on the situation “over the next coming month or two.”
There still is no timeline for any of the 80,000 evacuated residents to be allowed back into their homes, but the Alberta government has begun preliminary planning, though it stresses fighting the fire is still the first priority.
Cloud cover prevented photo of Fort McMurray. Jetstream carrying Canada smoke, covering my home state of Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/50WjkNZSCE
— Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) May 7, 2016
Premier Rachel Notley said officials expected the fire to possibly double in size on Saturday and reach the boundary with Saskatchewan to the east.
The good news was that the fire was burning away from communities. Firefighters continued working to protect the downtown and homes in Fort McMurray and held the line for a second straight day, Notley said.
Easterly winds over the last few hours have already started pushing fires back to NW as seen by dark red dots #ymm pic.twitter.com/IYRq7K1KjY
— Johanna Wagstaffe (@JWagstaffe) May 7, 2016
Smoke from #Alberta fires now covering vast areas of North America across to Atlantic coast. #ymmfire pic.twitter.com/UUDQtAwU5k
— Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) May 8, 2016
She added the gas supply has been turned off in the city and the power grid has been damaged. Water in the city isn’t drinkable and hazardous material will have to be cleaned up to make the community safe.
“The return won’t be in coming days,” said the premier. “Once the immediate fire damage is completed there will be an enormous amount of work to do to make the city safe and habitable.”
RCMP Insp. Kevin Kunetzki said Saturday that during their checks of houses in the city, officers are seeing significant signs of water and smoke damage.
Pushing the fire back! Water bombers attack south of #FortMcMurray #ymmfire @CTVNews pic.twitter.com/52bODNKdiL
— Peter Akman (@PeterAkman) May 7, 2016
Scott Long of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency said that may have been one of the costs of protecting the community.
He said firefighters use large, industrial sprinklers to “spray continuous amounts of water on houses to protect them from embers, sparks, etc., from spontaneous combustion, from the heat. So it’s quite possible there could be water damage.”
On top of that, a few days ago water bombers were dropping their loads on some of the houses in the highest-risk neighbourhoods.
“So a little bit of water damage in the basement is acceptable at this point,” Long said.
Non-essential personnel at both Syncrude and Suncor oil facilities in the area have been evacuated as a precaution.
1/3 Syncrude has made decision to shut down operations and remove all personnel from site. This includes both mines and Upgrader. #ymmfire
— Syncrude Canada Ltd. (@SyncrudeCanada) May 7, 2016
Syncrude site safely evacuated as the last plane landed in YEG shortly after 1 a.m. #ymmfire
— Syncrude Canada Ltd. (@SyncrudeCanada) May 8, 2016
“We do expect the fire to bump again the edge of the south end of the Suncor facility today,” said Morrison, but he added the companies’ highly trained industrial fire department would remain to protect the facilities.
“These sites are very resilient to wildfires, largely because they’re free and clear of vegetation and trees.”
Noralta Lodge, an oilsands housing facility where RCMP and firefighters have been staying, was placed on a two-hour evacuation notice.
our FM Village has been evacuated. Critical staff sent to Grey Wolf Lodge to support first responders https://t.co/oUmgeHRiPz #YMMFIRE
— Noralta Lodge (@NoraltaLodge) May 8, 2016
“They have a solid evacuation plan in place,” said Morrison. “If they’re under any kind of a threat there will be a safe, controlled evacuation.”
.@SyncrudeCanada joins Husky in shutting down ops – 1/4 of Canada's oil production impacted. #yeg #ymm #ymmfire pic.twitter.com/D0hHASEJKY
— Ted Bauer (@tedgbauer) May 8, 2016
#ymm Waterbomber in HD pic.twitter.com/4iJKLYHjr3
— Tom Albrecht (@ATeamMrA) May 2, 2016
Water bomber dropping fire suppressant. #ymmfire #FortMacFire #ymmhelps pic.twitter.com/ejQit0HjSr
— Stony Mountain Waste (@stonymtnwaste) May 4, 2016
Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said firefighters from other provinces were being brought in to relieve those who have been battling what he calls “this beast of a fire” for a week.
Eighty firefighters from Ontario have already arrived. Goodale told a news conference in Regina that another 44 are on their way from Quebec and 22 from New Brunswick. Equipment, such as pumps, hoses and tankers, are also coming from other provinces.
“What we’re trying to do, with the co-operation of other provinces and territories, is bring in rotations of other firefighters that can give them a break.”
Fire crews in #Sudbury board a plane to #FortMcMurray pic.twitter.com/ooCesc31xn
— Martha Dillman (@marthaCBC) May 6, 2016
Plane of fire fighters from #Sudbury area take off to #FortMcMurray pic.twitter.com/9z8RoaJJtR
— Martha Dillman (@marthaCBC) May 6, 2016
These guys (in yellow) have been on the job for 5 weeks and fought a brave a battle holding the fire line. #ymmfire pic.twitter.com/LuYXN5FlPy
— AB Professional Fire Fighters & Paramedics Assoc (@AlbertaPFFPA) May 6, 2016
Please keep all the FF's in your thoughts tonight as they work to protect what they can. #ymmfire #FortMacFire pic.twitter.com/CPej6Kx4of
— Calgary Firefighters Association (@CGYFireFighters) May 6, 2016
Hot, dry and windy: @jwagstaffe explains the weather conditions that are fueling the wildfires in Western Canadahttps://t.co/ekhu1Qfnjl
— CBC British Columbia (@cbcnewsbc) May 7, 2016
Alberta, on behalf of all #CAF members, our thoughts and prayers are with you. #ymmfire pic.twitter.com/KQUzAXPV7P
— General / Général Wayne Eyre (@CDS_Canada_CEMD) May 6, 2016
Our thoughts go to those displaced by the #FortMacFires. We wish for their continued safety. #RCAF #Salute Saturday pic.twitter.com/gE0ceKefpU
— Royal Canadian Air Force (@RCAF_ARC) May 7, 2016
Fort McMurray wildfire reaches 156,000 hectares in size @kendraslugoski has the latest information #ymmfire #ymm https://t.co/7YfP0DecYi
— Global Edmonton (@GlobalEdmonton) May 8, 2016
North side of #edmonton winds blowing smoke in #FortMacFire #FortMcMurray #ymmfire #ymm#wildfires pic.twitter.com/I5MBnCRF6V
— Canadian Home Grown (@mary_sexsmith) May 8, 2016
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