General News Largest fire evacuation in Fort McMurray (Largest in Alberta history)

Shit, that's crazy! It seems to be happening a lot in the West these past few years :s

Hope it doesn't affect you too much, Hawk

 

All of Ft Mac is evac'ed now. I lived there for a little over a year and have a few good friends there. I really hope they're all alright.

 

Here's hoping that your friends are all right!

Thankfully, there are no reports of fatalities. It is amazing to see how these calamities pull us together as a nation in support of the evacuees. People all across Alberta are opening their homes and even their barns for the animals!

 

All my friends checked in as safe with Facebook! Thank god.

It really is amazing! Airlines are offering free flights, all Boston Pizzas in Edmonton are offering free food, some gym is offering free services including showers, there's free gas down almost all of highway 63... it just goes on! Great to see so many people doing anything and everything they can.

 

There's really no way to get a fire like this under control. all you can do is just try to limit collateral damage and let it run its course.

 

It is terrible to see how bad this fire has gotten. I'm really glad to see that people are being as helpful as they can be given the situation. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have to just pack up and leave with little notice. That would have to be hard on everybody. I also could not imagine the amount of traffic since 60,000 people had to leave...

 

I just sent a donation to the food bank that is collecting for the evacuees...It's amazing how everyone is pulling together, never prouder to be Canadian.

 

Hawk honey talk to me!!! Are you okay? Do you still have somewhere to stay? You can come crash at my place until your home is rebuilt!

 

I'm shocked. A whole cityEVACUATED???!!! This literally sounds like something out of the bible...

I'm sorry about anyone who's hurt in this fire, but I just have one question : what caused the fire? It kinda seems random to me...

 

This is sad, not just for the people, but in terms of all the wilderness destroyed, all the habitat destroyed. First, you had all the pollution and massive ruin from those tar/oil sands, and then, this huge fire. It's weird, because it's been unusually warm, due to rising global temperatures, then, you get this crazy fire, and right by this huge deposit of gloopy, hard to refine oil in which the very process of refining and burning it as a fuel, drives the cycle in which global temperatures rise.

I wonder if this tragedy will make people think more about the impacts they are having on the environment, and how they have made extremes from storms to fires more intense.

 

I wondered about that, if the fire gets to the work site...I imagine there's probably chemicals and equipment there to partially refine it, that must be very flammable. I heard when they mine the tar out, it's like a hockey puck consistency, so they have to add solvents and heat it up, to be able to pump it out anywhere. This could be bad, if that stuff went up. I don't think the unrefined 'sands' would catch fire, but maybe?

Well, I hope nobody gets hurt, and it goes out soon.

I imagine with low global oil prices, it may be that the town is rebuilt a lot smaller, at least in the near future.

 

It is estimated that the fire got to be as big as 328 square miles at one point, about twice the size of the Island of Montreal...