Top 5 Facts About The Fort McMurray Wildfire
What started as a small wildfire on May 1st. 2016 quickly spiraled out of control and became an all-encompassing catastrophe. Welcome to WatchMojo News, the weekly series from WatchMojo.com where we break down news stories that might be on your radar. In this installment, we're counting down 5 facts you should know about the Fort McMurray Wildfire.
Top 10 Facts About The Fort McMurray Wildfire
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What started as a small wildfire on May 1st, 2016 quickly spiraled out of control and became an all-encompassing catastrophe. Welcome to WatchMojo News, the weekly series from WatchMojo.com where we break down news stories that might be on your radar. In this installment, we’re counting down 5 facts you should know about the Fort McMurray Wildfire.
#5: What Is the Fort McMurray Wildfire? The Emergency
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In what’s being described as one of Canada’s worst disasters in recent history, the Fort McMurray wildfire began on May 1st, 2016 in the province of Alberta, before rapidly spreading to the north and west, engulfing the entire city and some surrounding areas. More than 1,600 buildings have been destroyed, almost 90,000 people have been displaced, and some analysts are predicting that the blaze will rage on for weeks yet. Over 770 square miles have already been affected, but problem areas are still expected to grow. The inferno has been described as being ‘the size of Mexico City’, bigger than New York City, and far larger than Canada’s Toronto. This has led Environment Canada to issue numerous air quality and visibility warnings, with the smoke from the wildfires covering such a great portion of North America that it can be seen from space.
#4: What Caused the Fire? The Conditions
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The exact cause remains unknown at this moment but, while experts say they might have started naturally, there is increasing opinion that the fires are likely the accidental result of human actions. It has been put been put forward that climate change and the lack of a typical wet month of May could have contributed to the ideal conditions for a longer and drier fire. Professor of wildland fires at the University of Alberta Mike Flannigan points to the fires starting in close proximity to the city, and to the lack of lightning strike data, as indicators that mankind is at fault. According to the National Fire Database, an average of 1,200 wildfires are reported in Alberta annually, and around 50% of those are manmade, usually unintentionally. Regardless of how the first fires in Fort McMurray came about, however, weather conditions in Western Canada have exacerbated the problem; the dry winter has led to less snowpack, and lots of dry wood and leaves which has proven frighteningly easy to light, while Northern Alberta has also seen record-setting high temperatures during in early May. The weather forecast hasn’t brought too much hope either, although some rain did arrive on Sunday, May 8th.
#3: How Big Is the Evacuation? The City
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Fort McMurray is under a mandatory evacuation order, and over 80,000 people have fled the city. While some 25,000 travelled northwards, the majority have headed south, to Edmonton, Calgary, and other major towns. Syncrude, one of the world’s largest producers of synthetic crude oil, have also had to evacuate around 1,500 workers from its Fort McMurray plant, as smoke from the disaster reached the site and the threat of the fires spreading continued. While no lives are yet to have been claimed by the fires directly, people have died while fleeing them. On Wednesday, May 4th, a traffic accident occurred between an SUV and a tractor-trailer on Highway 881, one of Fort McMurray’s main exit routes – the incident resulted in two casualties. The fires are likely to lead to further evacuations as they rage on and continue to move east to neighboring province Saskatchewan, where several communities near the border, namely La Loche and Buffalo Narrows, are located.
#2: How Have People Helped the Evacuees? The Outreach
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The devastation has inspired solidarity throughout Canada. In Edmonton, taxi drivers have offered free cab rides, and the city has opened up access to recreational centers; the airline WestJet has been on hand to evacuate residents and animals, sometimes using airstrips at nearby oil fields; local sports teams have made sizeable donations to the aid effort, while the Canadian Red Cross says it has received in excess of $30 million as of May 6th, 2016. This is a considerable amount in light of the fact that the Canadian government has promised to match all donations made to the organization. Part of that figure came from a fundraising effort in Lac-Megantic, the Quebec town which was subject to a rail disaster in 2013; “Three years ago, our population was struck down by tragedy, and all of Canada helped us,” said local politician Luc Berthold, “Now it’s our turn to help this community.” The Syrian Refugee Support Group has also been pooling money in Calgary, and setting up online support groups for victims of the disaster.
#1: How Much Damage Has Been Caused? The Rebuild
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The unrelenting fires have rapidly reduced a city, and the forests that surround it, to ash and ruin. And analysts expect things to get worse before they get better – according to some predictions; the fires might not be extinguished for months. Insurance losses are expected to exceed $9 billion, while Canada’s oil industry has also been badly hit, forcing the shut down of about 25% of the nation’s oil sands facilities. The closures and evacuations around Fort McMurray translate into a loss of up to 1 million barrels a day, with numerous local companies scaling back production and sending workers to safer locales. This has led to instability in crude oil prices, with investors weighing the impact of the fires on oil production and the reduced crude oil output, as well as a potential increase in fuel prices across the country. In short, the wildfires have become one of the most expensive, if not the costliest, natural disasters in Canadian history. Around 1,600 homes have reportedly been destroyed, but that number is expected to rise significantly when the fires are put out completely, and the full extent of the damage becomes clear. At this point, while the fires continue to rage, it’s difficult to imagine how Fort McMurray will rebuild, residents remain defiant; “I don’t know what’s left of it, really,” said one evacuee, “But I know it will stand again.” [And with cooler temperatures and light rain in the forecast for the 1st few days of the week starting Monday, May 9th, 2016, the process has hopefully already begun.] Did these facts get you thinking? To vote for which news story is covered next head over to WatchMojo.com/suggest, and be sure to hit that subscribe button for more newsworthy top tens published every week!
