Alberta Bush Fire...

[Rockhopper]

Big forest fire raging in Alberta.

Hope that you haven't been playing with matches again Ka!

http://globalnews.ca/tag/alberta-wildfires/

Tim.

[Kaere]

It's quite devastating... the entire city of Ft McMurray is under mandatory evacuation, that's 60,000+ people trying to get out on one highway. Quite a loss of homes and businesses. This is the oilsands, already being hammered economically, this is a killer blow imo,

[Stargate]

Not getting that news yet, where is it?

[Kaere]

We have lots of wildfires atm but this one that is particular devastating to Fort McMurray is in Alberta which is a province of Canada. It's in the west of the country. The good news is that all residents have been evacuated safely.

[Stargate]

That is very good that people are safe, but sounds bad for having to evacuate.
Thanks for the info.

[Kaere]

Stargate, you mentioned in the other thread that you think it must be very dry here. Yes it is, we've had a drought for the last two or three years. Lots of the northern part of the province is covered in tinder dry forest, lots of fast and hot burning woods.

Okay, so apparently the numbers have gone up and it's 88,000 people evacuated, the city is pretty much empty. The wildfire is expected to continue raging without cease for today and probably tomorrow. So far this one wildfire has burned through 10,000 hectares, 1800 buildings or something ridiculous...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/catastrophic-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-surpasses-10-000-hectares-1.3566310

[Stargate]

THAT SOUNDS MASSIVE K, I hope they can do something, that's a lot of people to leave one town. The thing that I am noticing is that one part of the world is dry, and the other part wet, and both are extremely devastating.

[Kaere]

It is massive and unfortunately there's nothing you can do with a fire like this except get out of its way it's a firestorm, the air gets so hot its combusting anything in it's path, doesn't even have to come in contact. Just like the one that tore through that town out Rogue's way and destroyed it, exactly the same kind of thing. The airport there is likely to be gone soon, haven't heard anything about the hospital yet.

There's more evacuations in other parts of the province as well, quite a few First Nations have been evacuated (not the same fire as above)... there's one about an hour from me that they say is under control but with the winds picking up the way they are, and the smoke pouring into the city here, I am not keen to believe them

[Stargate]

I saw it on TV last night, it's frightening, I am so sorry for the people who have lost everything. We are living in different times but we have to survive. Just take care of yourself, don't want anything to happen to you.

[Kaere]

Thank you Stargate my tank is full of gas...

I heard talk that there were no lightning strikes in the area at the time and that the fire is most likely human caused

I just saw that the fire went from 10,000 hectares to over 85,000 just last night. Nothing is making a dent in it. Come on rain!!

[Rockhopper]

Stay safe Ka.

If I recall right most of the forest there is Douglas Fir and Red Cedar. Those trees would almost explode in very dry conditions!

Tim.

[Kaere]

I wasn't sure Rockhopper so I googled it...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_McMurray

White spruce, trembling aspen, balsam poplar and white birch are the most prominent native trees in and around town. Black spruce and tamarack occur in poorly drained areas and jack pine may be seen on the driest sites. European aspen, blue spruce and sand cherry are among the exotic trees occasionally seen.

[Rockhopper]

I think I was confusing Al with BC Ka. I will claim it to be age-related!

All joking aside; this is serious, 850 sq miles of a firestorm is very bad indeed.Just stay safe and be ready to get out if necessary. Remember material things can be replaced but lives can not.

Tim.

[Stargate]

Kaere, I was just looking at the whole development on TV again, it looks really bad. There were sparks falling on the escape route very dangerously, it could ignite one of the cars and block the free way. I hope you are far away from danger. This is the worst I have ever seen, because they might have to let it burn.

[Kaere]

Thanks for your concern boys I am well safe, the big fire is four hours or so north of me.

[Rogue]

Just seen the latest on the TV news a few minutes ago. It looks just so incredibly unreal. Like what you might imagine as the end days of the world might look.

[Stirky]

[Stargate]

I have noticed that there is only one road out of McMurray. I think that is much too large a city for only one escape route, I guess a disaster on this scale was never anticipated. I believe this must be a lesson for other areas such as this since climate change is here to stay.

[Kaere]

The highways doesn't just stop in the town, it goes through, so definitely two ways out. And probably much smaller roads radiating out. Not unusual for towns and cities in this huge country.

I'm not convinced climate change is the culprit, Stargate. There have always been fires here, it's the nature of the beast.

[Rockhopper]

Tim.

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