Parts Of Canadian City In Oil Sands Region Evacuated As Wildfire Draws Near

Fort McMurray, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th May, 2024) Four neighborhoods of Fort McMurray, a city in Canada's major oil-producing region, were ordered evacuated Tuesday as an out of control wildfire drew near and thick smoke filled the skies.

Shifting winds gusting to 40 kilometers per hour (25 miles per hour) fanned the flames, scorching 9,600 hectares of surrounding forests as it advanced to within 13 kilometers (eight miles) of the city that had been gutted by wildfires in 2016 -- one of the biggest disasters in the nation's history.

About 6,000 residents in the neighborhoods of Prairie Creek, Abasand, Grayling Terrace and Beacon Hill were ordered out by 4 pm local time.

By mid-afternoon, a highway south was jammed with cars and trucks fleeing to safety against a backdrop of plumes of dark smoke glowing orange in the distance and rising into the stratosphere, leaving behind an eerily quiet city.

"We're seeing extreme fire behavior," Alberta Wildfire spokeswoman Josee St-Onge told a news conference.

"Smoke columns are developing and the skies are covered in smoke," she said. "Firefighters have been pulled from the fire line for safety reasons."

Officials said the fire had grown significantly in multiple directions since Monday.

Regional fire chief Jody Butz, however, assured residents that crews were prepared, having cleared brush and erected fire barriers over the winter, and that water bombers were now dropping retardant to slow its advance.

"We are confident that we have the resources to defend these areas, but we need people out of harm's way," he said.