Fort McMurray Burns. Most of the Alberta city is being evacuated. - Polidicks

BBC is reporting that some 1600 buildings have been destroyed. [img]http://thecanadianpress-a.akamaihd.net/graphics/2016/static/cp-alta-fort-mcmurray-fire.jpg[/img] [quote]This looks like it could be a screenshot from Fallout or something holy shit. [/quote] Maaaan, some of the photos coming out I swear ARE Fallout. [img]http://i.cbc.ca/1.3565852.1462370782!/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/original_620/beacon-hill-truck.JPG[/img] [url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wildfire-rages-in-fort-mcmurray-as-evacuees-settle-in-edmonton-1.3565573]CBC Has some great but mute video footage here of the aftermath.[/url] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1siPgAVOAtU]Optional soundtrack to play alongside said mute video.[/url] There's also a lot of cars scattered along highway 63. Lots of people ran out of gas while fleeing or camped out. They're currently trying to figure out which cars are abandoned and who is waiting for gas.

Where is the traffic jam in relation to the city? If the southbound road straight out of the city is fucked, they could just take the road north to Fort Mackay and wait until it blows over.

It's all south of the city towards Edmonton along 63, which is about 350km of almost nothing. This time of year the Ice road is closed so there's a few small towns surrounding the oilsands and outposts you can't reach except by plane in the summer but that's it for over 500km until you hit the Northwest Territories.

What about that secondary highway? 881? It looks like if you get on that one, you're laughing all the way down to Edmonton.

[QUOTE=pentium;50251847] I'd never though I'd live to see the day Fort Mac burned down. [B]What an awful place to live.[/B] The highway is currently crammed full of cars. Some of them are jumping the shoulders and riding down the sides. [B]There's so many Alberta jokes I could say.[/B][/QUOTE] are you serious dude "haha people having their livelihoods destroyed and lives threatened [I]fucking comedy[/I] right guys???"

[QUOTE=Timebomb575;50257014]are you serious dude "haha people having their livelihoods destroyed and lives threatened [I]fucking comedy[/I] right guys???"[/QUOTE] You coming into this thread just to stir the pot or are you actually going to contribute? [quote]What about that secondary highway? 881? It looks like if you get on that one, you're laughing all the way down to Edmonton. [/quote] You can however 63 only takes four hours on a good day. The 881 will take longer.

[QUOTE=pentium;50257126]You coming into this thread just to stir the pot or are you actually going to contribute?[/QUOTE] so you're allowed to get your jabs in because you're the op but he can't?

[QUOTE=Timebomb575;50257014]are you serious dude "haha people having their livelihoods destroyed and lives threatened [I]fucking comedy[/I] right guys???"[/QUOTE] chill out man. This place is known as Fort Crack all over the country and for good reason, I totally get where he's coming from. Stop getting offended on other's behalf, you're just derailing the conversation.

As an Albertan who has no intention of ever going into the oil industry and has every intention of getting out of this province asap, I like to laugh at the oil rednecks just as much as any Ontario liberal. But now is definitely not the time because if they get fucked, the whole province gets fucked because they're the ones spending money. But if they have no money to spend because their pay is cut/lost their job/their home burned down, they're not spending money and that fucks over the rest of Alberta. [editline]4th May 2016[/editline] I'm not disagreeing that Fort Mac is an awful place to live, but it's still not really the time for jokes about it.

[QUOTE=Flapjacks;50252381]Record breaking heat, and an unexpected shift of wind that brought the fire to the city.[/QUOTE] No one knows what the exact source of whatever caused the fire yet though. [editline]4th May 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Cupkek;50253419]It's expected to get worse tomorrow. Not looking good for the city. I wouldn't be surprised if over half of it burns down at this rate.[/QUOTE] Holy fuck that would be like America's Great Chicago fire that destroyed most of Chicago in 1871! Also does anybody remember the fire that happened near Kelona back in 2003 I was only a kid at the time but I still remember seeing it on the news at the time. [editline]4th May 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Taepodong-2;50257615]As an Albertan who has no intention of ever going into the oil industry and has every intention of getting out of this province asap, I like to laugh at the oil rednecks just as much as any Ontario liberal. But now is definitely not the time because if they get fucked, the whole province gets fucked because they're the ones spending money. But if they have no money to spend because their pay is cut/lost their job/their home burned down, they're not spending money and that fucks over the rest of Alberta. [editline]4th May 2016[/editline] I'm not disagreeing that Fort Mac is an awful place to live, but it's still not really the time for jokes about it.[/QUOTE] I agree too soon.

[QUOTE=pentium;50251847] I'd never though I'd live to see the day Fort Mac burned down. What an awful place to live. The highway is currently crammed full of cars. Some of them are jumping the shoulders and riding down the sides. There's so many Alberta jokes I could say.[/QUOTE] I'll remember that the next time BC catches fire, which is every damn year.

[QUOTE=pentium;50257126]You coming into this thread just to stir the pot or are you actually going to contribute? You can however 63 only takes four hours on a good day. The 881 will take longer.[/QUOTE] Yeah I'd imagine it would. But if you had to choose between a blocked road and a longer alternative with a huge fire on your tail, I think I'd pick the 881.

NASA upped an image of the area. [img]http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/914F/production/_89599173_032771197.jpg[/img] Underneath that smoke column so tall it's casting a shadow visible from space is Fort McMurray. [url=https://www.webcamgalore.com/EN/webcam/Canada/Fort-McMurray/20908.html]Here's a webcam at the airport southeast of the city. It updates every hour.[/url]

[QUOTE=coldroll5;50257666] Holy fuck that would be like America's Great Chicago fire that destroyed most of Chicago in 1871! Also does anybody remember the fire that happened near Kelona back in 2003 I was only a kid at the time but I still remember seeing it on the news at the time.[/QUOTE] was there for it, I don't think Kelowna got hit hard I think it was Salmon Arm that got fucked up real bad IIRC

I remember Kelowna too but it was an interface fire in a rich neighborhood. It never went into the city. Also, if you had wooden shingles you were fucked. [img]http://www.sfu.ca/geog/geog351spring09/group06/Forest%20Fire/Gallery/OkanaganFire7.jpg[/img] I moved to BC years after the Salmon Arm fire and know nothing about it.

High Level received a mandatory evacuation at 8PM, though the fire is not expected to spread it's been evacuated regardless so far as I can tell. [url]http://www.emergencyalert.alberta.ca/alerts/2016/05/3726.html[/url]

Here's a few YouTube videos: [video=youtube;AOC5YGyoGDw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOC5YGyoGDw[/video] [video=youtube;PCc1FvZ3g0Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCc1FvZ3g0Q[/video] [video=youtube;aC2iPvXAggM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC2iPvXAggM[/video] Instagram video: [url]https://www.instagram.com/p/BE_by7VKiwx/[/url]

I wouldn't be surprised if the wildfire ended up razing the entire city at this point.

[QUOTE=Morgen;50261016]Here's a few YouTube videos: [/QUOTE] Jesus Christ, that last video when the embers just start falling out of the sky... As close to hell on earth as I can imagine.

[QUOTE=pentium;50258209] [url=https://www.webcamgalore.com/EN/webcam/Canada/Fort-McMurray/20908.html]Here's a webcam at the airport southeast of the city. It updates every hour.[/url][/QUOTE] One of the buildings burned down last night. The fire has reached the airport. [img]http://i.cbc.ca/1.3568094.1462463504!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_620/airport-view.jpg[/img] At this point around 90000 people have been evacuated and the area. The fire is now one of the largest in the province's history and [i]well[/i] past the most expensive disaster in the region's history. [img]https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2016/05/04/photos-raging-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-forces-thousands-from-their-homes/fire25jpg.jpg.size.custom.crop.1086x724.jpg[/img] [img]http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/fort-mcmurray-fire.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=940&h=705[/img] [img]http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2887455.1462374677!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg[/img] [img]https://warriorpublications.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/tar-sands-ft-mcmurray-fire-sale.jpg?w=604[/img] [img]http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2887403.1462373212!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.cbc.ca/1.3568982.1462484183!/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/4x3_620/rcmp-fort-mcmurray-gallery.JPG[/img] The only thing that can stop it now is the weather. It's currently producing its own climate and generating dry lightning which continues to start new fires as its passed the 90000 hectares.

[QUOTE]El Niño and ongoing climate change have both contributed to the devastating Alberta wildfires according to experts. The weather phenomenon has caused much drier conditions than normal, leading to a massive increase in the number of fires in the province. Alberta has had 330 wildfires already this year, more than double the recent annual average. Global warming has also seen wildfire seasons lengthen considerably since 1979, according to studies. [/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36212145"]Source[/URL]

I learned today that one of my friends died in a car accident while evacuating the city. I hope FPer's near that area are safe.

[QUOTE=nomad1;50266415]I learned today that one of my friends died in a car accident while evacuating the city. I hope FPer's near that area are safe.[/QUOTE] My condolences.

[QUOTE=nomad1;50266415]I learned today that one of my friends died in a car accident while evacuating the city. I hope FPer's near that area are safe.[/QUOTE] Woah, small world. That was the only known fatality from the fire. Sorry to hear that man. So at this point the fire has passed through the city and the danger the disaster is pretty much over. They will not however be allowing residents to return home for at least another few days as they mop up but what photos we are getting out are pretty spectacular. [img]http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/1B13/production/_89613960_canada_wildfire_06052016_624map.jpg[/img] [img]http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/12EDB/production/_89613577_fortmcmurray-burntoutcars.jpg[/img] [img]http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/9683/production/_89613583_fortmcmurray-damagedhouse.jpg[/img] [img]http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/18BB/production/_89613360_fortmcmurray-damagedneighbourhood.jpg[/img]

I work on the oil sands myself, we got shut down early Tuesday afternoon and it was pretty surreal as we heard more and more about what was going on. Refugees flooded into our camp for most of the night, many of them had to sleep in cars because there just wasn't enough room. We bailed out at 5 AM Wednesday morning when the fire had mercifully calmed down a little, but it was still apocalyptic driving through Fort Mac. Thick, thick smoke, burned out buildings and abandoned cars everywhere. Highway 63 shut down again around 10 AM so I'm glad we left when we did, another guy on my crew stayed longer and ended up getting evacuated via 737 from a camp further north.

The smoke is working its way across the country. I'm about 1000km away in south eastern Saskatchewan and the sky is starting to get hazy. The scale of that fire is insane.

[QUOTE=No_Excuses;50272112]The smoke is working its way across the country. I'm about 1000km away in south eastern Saskatchewan and the sky is starting to get hazy. The scale of that fire is insane.[/QUOTE] Smoke hasn't gotten here in Calgary yet. Though it still might, I remember it was really foggy when Kelowna caught fire.

And last year when Kelowna was on fire I thought that would remain one of the worst fires in memory for years to come. Less than a year later and we already have the largest disaster in Canadian history. God damn.

A family member who works up there said one of the oil companies is going to be cutting their production to the bare minimum for six months because of the fire and laying off a bunch of staff. RIP Alberta's economy.

[QUOTE=Taepodong-2;50272725]A family member who works up there said one of the oil companies is going to be cutting their production to the bare minimum for six months because of the fire and laying off a bunch of staff. RIP Alberta's economy.[/QUOTE] That's been all over the news for a few days. Shell and the others will be scaling back their operations or shutting the non essential services down for a while due to the fire.