Work camp housing wildfire 1st responders forced to evacuate

A massivewildfirenicknamed"the beast" has forced a work camp north of Fort McMurrayhousing firstresponders to evacuate Saturday night.

"This is an orderly and precautionary evacuation,"Noralta, the company that runs the camp, said in a press release, adding thatpeople in the area are"not inimminent danger."The announcement came at 6:30 p.m.

Earlier in the dayauthorities informed thosestaying at the campthey should be prepared to evacuate on two hours' notice.

Non-essential staff are currentlybeingsent south of Fort McMurray to safe sites on buses. Some workers will be sent to Grey Wolf, another camp north of Fort McMurray.

Reaching the the east

The fireis expected to skirtthe edge of Suncor'soilsandssite north of Fort McMurraylater today, and couldreach the Saskatchewan border sometime before midnight.

Inside the mostly quiet and all-but abandoned city,police are goinghouse to house, looking for people who may have been unable or unwilling to leave.

In a news conference Saturday,Premier RachelNotleyurged the last few holdouts still lurking in the city to leaveat once.

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"Please listen carefully to this," she said. "If you aren't a police officer, a firefighter or otherwise havea first-responder role in the emergency, you should not be in Fort McMurray."

More than 500 firefighters are now battling the blaze on many frontsin and around FortMcMurray, along with 15 helicopters, 16air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment.

Officials expect the fire in the FortMcMurrayarea to grow bigger on Saturday, and say by the end ofthe day it could swell to2,000 square kilometres, an area three times the size of Edmonton or Toronto.

The fire should pose no danger to Suncor'soilsands facilities, 30 km from Fort McMurray,according toChadMorrison, the province's senior wildfire official.

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"Those sites are very resilientto forest fires, largely because the sites are cleared and free of vegetation," he said.

Alloilsandsfacilitiesin the area are surrounded by wide firebreaks andare protected by their own highly trained fire crews,Morrisonsaid.Syncrude, which is further north,is also shutting down its operations in the area.

Both SuncorandSyncrudehave evacuated their facilitiesas a precautionary measure, said Scott Long with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.

Premier Rachel Notley update on Fort McMurray wildfire

8 years ago

Duration 30:26

'If you aren't a police officer, a firefighter or otherwise have a first-responder role in the emergency, you should not be in Fort McMurray'

The prevailingwind isblowing from the southwest,pushing the fire northeast away from FortMcMurray. The huge firecould reachthe Saskatchewan border, 90 kilometres away, by the end of the day and will likely continue long after any danger to communities has passed, perhaps for many months, Morrisons said.

"Weexpect to add at least [1,000 square kilometres] to this fire today," he said. "The good news is, it still continues to move away from the community."

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Darby Allen,the regional fire chief of Wood Buffalo, has been battling this out-of-control wildfirefor a week now, andhastakentocalling it simply "the beast."

Over the past five days, thefire has destroyed more than1,600 homes and buildings, forced 80,000 to evacuate the city,and resisted all efforts totry to wrestle it under control.

Notley said Saturday that fire crews have been able over the past two days to keep the fire away from the city.

"We had a good day yesterday," she said. "We held the line, for a second day."

But the premier admitted there is nothing police or the government can do to force people to leave, despite the fact that a "mandatory evacuation order" has been in place for five days.

RCMP Insp.Kevin Kunetzki said police have been searching through a city gone eerily silent, lookingfor stragglers.

"I can tell you personally," he said, "driving to my accommodations last night, barely being able to see in front of the car."

Officers working in and around the city are wearing masks or ventilators to protect them from the heavy smoke, andsay there are times when visibility is no more than 10 metres.

"I know there has been some indication of looting," he said. "But crime is not rampant in the community.

"We're not seeing people running around with televisions and carrying them out of the area."

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SyncrudeCanadasaid Saturday it willshut down operations and remove all workers fromboth theAurora and Mildred Lake minesand its upgrading complex at Mildred Lake.

"We have made this decision toensure the safety of our personnel and the integrity of our operations,"saidLeithanSlade, publicaffairs specialistforSyncrudeCanada Ltd. "While there is no immediate threat from fire,we anticipate smoke could start toencroach on our Mildred Lake site this morning."

Fort McMurray convoy

8 years ago

Duration 2:57

CBC's Briar Stewart in Fort McMurray watches as a convoy of evacuees moves through the city and the flames surrounding it

Morrisonsaid the fire started at about 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 1. It was about twohectares when it was discovered, and firefighters began fighting it immediately. Despite those efforts, the firegrewto 60 hectares by the end of that firstday.

Three days later, the entire city of Fort McMurray was evacuated and andthousands of people fled south toward Lac La Biche and Edmonton, whileabout25,000residents wentnorth up Highway 63.

Over the past few days, thousands of those stranded people have been flown south on special flights, and thousands of others have driven out in convoys organized and overseen by the RCMP.

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Notleysaid Saturdaythe goal is tohaveall of those evacueesout of the area by the end of the day.

The premier also said 32,000 households had registered with the Red Cross by Saturday afternoon. The Red Cross has collected more than $44 million in donations, so far, tohelp fire victims.

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