So... this is a thing going on in Canada ATM. Basically, a wild fire started outside of the city, then, because of prevailing weather conditions(hot, dry, windy), moved into the city outskirts. The majority of Fort McMurray is under mandatory evacuation, and they've evacuated 80,000 people thus far. No deaths. Video of Fire along highway List of Tweets including some video Apparently some neighborhoods have been completely destroyed. Largest evacuation in Canada's history due to fire.
holy crap. are large wildfires common in canada? because in the US (mostly the south and west; especially california) and i did search for canada and got little so that's why i'm asking how common they are.
Should be about the same amount of fires, percentage wise. Mostly West Coast and prairies. Here's link to show fires from 1984 and up And yeah, it does get that hot up here. Mostly in the West section, but our summers regularly reach 30° C, across most provinces in some spot or another.
I'm surprised Alberta is having such a dry season, we had a fairly wet spring here in WA and I'd have expected some of that weather to travel east.
It was dry on Van isle and in the interior this winter. Not a lot of snow pack is going to mean a brutal fire season.
Surprising - we rebuilt a lot of snowpack with a very wet winter (which was good, because last year was a long dry spell through the spring and summer).
"Hiya neighbor. I'm going to demolish your house to create a fire break. Your sacrifice will be noted and appreciated"
Update: - State of Emergency declared Province wide. - All 88,000 residences have been evacuated. - The Fire has surrounded the area, the only clear route out is now Northbound on the 68, sorta - Only two reported deaths, and neither as a direct result of the Fire. Both occurred when a Transport truck collided with a SUV, killing the SUV occupants. The truck was carrying lumber, and the accident started another fire to the north of For Mac. - Currently occupies some 10,000 + hectares, as seen above, and an estimated 1,600 homes and buildings have been destroyed. - State of emergency allows province to conscript people for firefighting duties, which has been enacted to some extent. - No end in sight soon, as the weather is expected to be continually hot and dry for the next few days. - At the point where really only a rain storm or cold temperatures will allow this fire to be contained. Image from Space:
no idea if canada has something like the US national guard/air national guard which can be called in for firefighting (the north carolina air national guard goes all over the country to fight fires with c-130s) I think they actually have the largest number of c-130s of all firefighting and air national guard units.
Each of the provinces that endure wildfires of any extent typically have a full Department of Wildfires, which employ many firefighters in the region. BC is also home to the largest water tanker in the world, so that's being brought in. Department of Defense in Canada is also sending help.
Actually, Tweet from CBC just not too long ago: "1,100 firefighters now involved; 145 helicopters, 138 pieces of heavy equipment, 22 air tankers deployed. "
The military gets called in from time to time. I have friends based out of CFB Edmonton and CFB Cold lake and they are on standby to go at any moment now.
Canada's aerial fire fighting capability is arguably better than the US, through a bunch of crooked deals the us forest service effectively eliminated a large part of our civilian medium and heavy tanker fleet. As the old air tanker fleet aged and needed replacement, retired military aircraft were only sold to specific companies who were friends with officials. These companies took all the contracts and just about ran everyone else out of business before anyone could call foul. By that point it was too late and the military shut down the supply of aircraft leaving the companies that were still left and weren't in trouble for unethical dealings with no aircraft to bid against any further contracts. The forest service then turned to the military to do more flights with the MAFFS C-130's but it has left a large gap in aircraft capacities between the small single engine air tankers and the large military 130's. Canada didn't have the crooked politics affect them as much and have more professional fire fighter companies to respond, also Canada can hire foreign (such as USA) registered water bombers to supplement their in house options. This is something that gets a bit more difficult to do in the US with our regulations.
Some maps for comparison: How much area of the Greater Toronto Area is covered by the current extent of the fire.
