Ema Skye Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 I don't know how many SFers live up in this area of Canada, but the events that have gone on over the past few days are bonechilling. This is one of the worst natural disaster in Canada's history, with a 85,000 hectare blaze. If you want to get an idea of how huge this is, check out these images. The entire province of Alberta is in a state of emergency as around 100,000 evacuees (and growing) are trying to find places to live. Damage is estimated to be between 3 and 9 billion dollars, but the fire is still out of control and the figures are scheduled to climb. Over Thursday, the fire grew 8 times in size. As an Albertan, this is one of the scariest moments in my life. I'm a few hours away from the fire, but seeing the carnage happening this close to home is terrifying. The pictures and the news reports honestly don't do it justice. The designated evacuation centers are filling up. My town is scheduled to start receiving the evacuees when the designated centers reach capacity. I've included a bunch of images in this spoiler to just see how awful the situation is. If you're an SFer in that region, I hope you're okay. We're here for you. The Canadian Red Cross is taking donations. They've so far raised 29 million in relief funds for the area. If you wish to donate, the link is here. The Canadian government will be matching the dollar value of every donation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardin Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 I grew up in Fort McMurray, and I still have a lot of friends who live there. Needless to say the past few days have been tense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingddd Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Prayers to those that have evacuated. The destruction was really intense and it spread really fast too. It was like raining fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardin Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 I actually went to high school with the guy who filmed that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moblin Major General Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 200,000+ acres? Is this fire hitting the air currents due south toward the US? Also, how many firefighters are battling it? Even the wildfires in the US haven't been known to octuple in size in what seems to be a few hours. And this is getting larger? This is sad, and frightening. How close is this to Edmonton? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shinehollow Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 (edited) I met some families members who live there last summer, and they're RCMP, so they're still around Fort McMurray. I hope they're okay. EDIT: I can't quote posts on this computer, but oh well. I think most of Alberta's force? I don't live there, but I do know BC firefighters have chased the largest fire in this province over the Alberta border when it jumped it to allow the Alberta forces to focus on Fort McMurray. BC can't send any, though, since we already have over 50 fires active. Fort McMurray is about 378km from Edmonton. Some people have evacuated there. If they could make it on what gas they still had in the tank. Edited May 6, 2016 by Agent Harper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ema Skye Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 (edited) 200,000+ acres? Is this fire hitting the air currents due south toward the US? Also, how many firefighters are battling it? Even the wildfires in the US haven't been known to octuple in size in what seems to be a few hours. And this is getting larger? This is sad, and frightening. How close is this to Edmonton? It's about 5 hours away from Edmonton. Edited May 6, 2016 by Squid Lord Doof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Wesker Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Anyone know if any other crews are heading there? BC's can't (But they followed the Siphon Creek fire into Alberta so they don't have to move crews away from Fort Mac) and I know Ontario sent some. Will Australia send any? They usually do for BC's fires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardin Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 200,000+ acres? Is this fire hitting the air currents due south toward the US? Also, how many firefighters are battling it? Even the wildfires in the US haven't been known to octuple in size in what seems to be a few hours. And this is getting larger? This is sad, and frightening. How close is this to Edmonton? The fire is being moved around by the wind of course, but it isn't really that freakishly huge as far as wildfires go. Five years ago there was a fire north of Fort McMurray which burned nearly 1.8 million acres. That one never threatened the town, but it was still a massive event. This is no where near Edmonton, Fort McMurray is more than 400km north of the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ema Skye Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 I believe Premier Notley requested the military, but I can't find a source on that. I know most of Alberta's firefighters are being sent up there. One of my family friends got sent up their yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moblin Major General Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 This seems to be even larger than the Yosemite Fire, and that one was rather large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardin Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 I believe Premier Notley requested the military, but I can't find a source on that. I know most of Alberta's firefighters are being sent up there. One of my family friends got sent up their yesterday. The military is there, but the fire is too intense for them to contribute outside of intelligence gathering and search and rescue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Water Mage Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 My god, those pictures look like something straight out of a game or a movie, it's hard to believe it's real, and yet they are the proof. It's a literally hellish scene. Do they have any idea of how the fire started? Was it natural? Or man-made? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 My Prayers go out to everyone near it... Geez its even more intense then I thought. Hope it starts dying down soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardin Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 My god, those pictures look like something straight out of a game or a movie, it's hard to believe it's real, and yet they are the proof. It's a literally hellish scene. Do they have any idea of how the fire started? Was it natural? Or man-made? It's too soon to determine a cause, but experts are speculating it was man-made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeye Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 (edited) . Edited February 26, 2020 by Hawkeye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Wesker Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 Accordoing to the RCMP still there searching homes, they've found two families still on their homes. One was an elderly couple (I get that) but the other was a family of five who thought they weren't in any danger and I don't know how you do that when your town is burning down around you. On the slightly brighter side though, an organization in Coquitlam started accepting donations for the evacuees in Edmonton and have four semi trailers full of things like nesecities and clothing heading there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Water Mage Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 I wonder how these people will rebuilt their lives, some them probably have nowhere esle to go. Can the affected cities even be rebuilt? Or should they be rebuilt? The fire might have caused some places to become uninhabitable. And what are the concerns over the wildlife and the plantlife? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardin Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 Oh the city will recover, no question about that. The images are bad, but the carnage has really been contained to areas that aren't the major centres in town. If downtown or Timberlea had been ravaged it would be dramatic, but they were only lightly affected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Water Mage Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 (edited) Oh the city will recover, no question about that. The images are bad, but the carnage has really been contained to areas that aren't the major centres in town. If downtown or Timberlea had been ravaged it would be dramatic, but they were only lightly affected.So it was mostly the areas next to forests then? Also, I've heard some researchers saying that the fire would grown and spread even more this Saturday, did it happen? Oh! And apparently the first deaths caused by this fire happened, but it during the evacution. Two people were running from the fire when they had a car accident. Not sure about the details, they were scarce. Edited May 7, 2016 by Water Mage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Wesker Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 So it was mostly the areas next to forests then? Also, I've heard some researchers saying that the fire would grown and spread even more this Saturday, did it happen? Oh! And apparently the first deaths caused by this fire happened, but it during the evacution. Two people were running from the fire when they had a car accident. Not sure about the details, they were scarce. The fire is expected to double in size today. It's already over 10,000 hectares in size. Oh the crash was a vehicle hit a semi on the highway leading out. The driver and passenger of the vehicle died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardin Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 That accident happened about 200km south of town on a notoriously bad highway. Frankly it's incredible that they were the only fatalities. As of the last report the fire is 156,000 hectares and moving north east towards the Saskatchewan border and the mines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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