According to Canadian officials, there has never been such a massive evacuation throughout Canada.
A state of emergency was proclaimed on Wednesday, local time, in Alberta, Canada, due to devastating forest fires, and ordered a total discharging of a new city or two smaller settlements.
The situation has worsened on Wednesday, and as forest fire extends southward, authorities have also ordered the evacuation of the town of Anzac in the evening, where they sheltered some of the residents who moved out of Fort McMurray, 50 miles north of the previous day. Two smaller settlements, Gregoire Lake Estates and Fort McMurray First Nation, must also leave their home.
© MTI / EPA / NASA / Earth Observatory / Joshua Stevens
Fort McMurray, 88,000 people fled, 1600 buildings in the city became burnt down, and fire at the airport there already threatened. All commercial flights have been canceled. According to Canadian officials, there has never been such a massive evacuation throughout Canada.
Surrounded by forests, Fort McMurray lies in the Canadian oil fields, and is the world’s third largest oil tanker after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. However, most of the oil fields are located north of the city, while the fire mostly hits the southern parts of the city and extends southwards. Oil facilities are not in danger, but firefighters at Fort McMurray, Darby Allen, said the flames were “wildly flush” and went to about ten thousand miles north of the town, sheltering camps in the oil fields.
Original page: http://hvg.hu/vilag/20160505_Kanada_erdotuz_szuksegallapot