Hope our Canadian people well during this catastrophe...
The sky in Fort McMurray now looks like a wall of fire and smoke as a mammoth inferno swallows parts of the Canadian city.
Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 80,000 people, including the entire city of Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo said Wednesday.
The blaze has already destroyed 80% of Fort McMurray's Beacon Hill community, RM Wood Buffalo said. Well over a dozen homes burned down, but the full breadth of the destruction remains unclear.
Paul Spring said his neighborhood went down in flames. "The whole subdivision is gone," the longtime pilot and firefighter said. "Things are pretty horrible right now. We've been out flying and surveying the damage." Spring is the president of Phoenix Heli-Flight. Despite his loss, he hasn't stopped working. He said his team will fly firefighting missions, dropping water and assisting crews on the ground. "As long as we keep the people safe, we can rebuild the houses," he said. Despite the catastrophic images, no injuries have been reported.
"All our efforts to control and contain the fire were challenged by this extreme fire behavior," forestry manager Bernie Schmitte said. "Efforts were also hampered by smoke conditions. Basically fire behavior was beyond all control efforts." The good news: "Conditions are set to improve over the next couple of days," CNN meteorologist Judson Jones said.
Temperatures that soared to 32.6 Celsius (90.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday will drop to the low 20s C (60s F) on Thursday and Friday -- giving firefighters a hand in combating the blaze, Jones said.
The main challenge ahead: fierce winds gusting in different directions. "If it's constantly changing direction in different ways, it's hard to control a fire," Jones said. The wildfire, which began Sunday, had already torched 7,400 acres by Tuesday, CNN partner CBC News said. The cause of the blaze remains unclear.
---CNN
The sky in Fort McMurray now looks like a wall of fire and smoke as a mammoth inferno swallows parts of the Canadian city.
Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 80,000 people, including the entire city of Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo said Wednesday.
The blaze has already destroyed 80% of Fort McMurray's Beacon Hill community, RM Wood Buffalo said. Well over a dozen homes burned down, but the full breadth of the destruction remains unclear.
Paul Spring said his neighborhood went down in flames. "The whole subdivision is gone," the longtime pilot and firefighter said. "Things are pretty horrible right now. We've been out flying and surveying the damage." Spring is the president of Phoenix Heli-Flight. Despite his loss, he hasn't stopped working. He said his team will fly firefighting missions, dropping water and assisting crews on the ground. "As long as we keep the people safe, we can rebuild the houses," he said. Despite the catastrophic images, no injuries have been reported.
"All our efforts to control and contain the fire were challenged by this extreme fire behavior," forestry manager Bernie Schmitte said. "Efforts were also hampered by smoke conditions. Basically fire behavior was beyond all control efforts." The good news: "Conditions are set to improve over the next couple of days," CNN meteorologist Judson Jones said.
Temperatures that soared to 32.6 Celsius (90.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday will drop to the low 20s C (60s F) on Thursday and Friday -- giving firefighters a hand in combating the blaze, Jones said.
The main challenge ahead: fierce winds gusting in different directions. "If it's constantly changing direction in different ways, it's hard to control a fire," Jones said. The wildfire, which began Sunday, had already torched 7,400 acres by Tuesday, CNN partner CBC News said. The cause of the blaze remains unclear.
---CNN
