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thoughts and prayers for all there.
we went through it last year and it was one of the most stressful summers of my life. God be with all the fire fighters.

I spent the last couple of days getting employees out of the area and settled in various evac centers. Thankfully they are all out and safe, along with their families. Three employees have lost their homes for sure. Uncertain if others have at this point. Seems as though our office in the area is also gone.

SS

A couple points about that fire we can all learn from.

We are hearing that the radiant heat from the super-hot fire is what is igniting the houses. The radiant heat from the advancing flame front is NOT what is igniting a lot of the houses on fire.

In some of the videos, if you watch closely, you will see foliage next to houses igniting first. The main foliage that is igniting is JUNIPER. The juniper then burns with extreme intensity that it ignites the home. Once the first home is fully engulfed, then adjacent homes do get going by radiant heat.

My advice- If you have JUNIPER in your yard… REMOVE IT.. Plant some sort of deciduous foliage (lilacs etc) that are a lot less flammable. FireSmart Guides to Landscaping are available. They describe different plants by name and ranking as far as if they are non-flammable all the way up to extremely flammable.

Follow the fireSmart link below and do the simple things that cost nothing but a bit of sweat equity. Clean your gutters, rake dead leaves away from your house, prune any conifer trees in your yards up to a height of 6 foot (that should be your lowest limb), make sure your woodpile is not against the house in the carport.

More great information can be found at: http://bcwildfire.ca/Prevention/firesmart.htm

If you take the proper steps to help FireSmart your own property, its not a guarantee, but does increase your chances of your home surviving a wildfire like this. There are MANY instances of single homes within a subdivision, where the home survived, yet the rest of the subdivision was destroyed.

While I am on a roll, I was asked yesterday by someone, “Why does Northern BC and Alberta burn in May?” Slave Lake (450 homes lost occurred within 2 weeks of the Fort Mac fire, but back in 2011). The answer is, “The Spring Dip”.. This is a phenomena that occurs each spring once the snow leaves, all the dry accumulations are still on the ground AND most foliage (trees and shrubs) are at their lowest foliar moisture content of the year (very little moisture in the needles and stems).

This is a heartbreaker.
So sorry for all caught up in this, and
.....words fail me.

Cool rain, clean moist air, and courage be yours

GTC

Best wishes to all in that area

Just checked the map...the fire is getting awfully close to my fishing hole!

Things look bad for the folks of Ft. McMurray

I contacted Cat last night, he said he's fine but doesn't know if his home is still standing.
That's all I got - over&out.

Prayers for all those affected by this tragedy.I was near a fire similar to this in The UP years ago.It is hell on earth.

We are in for a tough weekend. The fire is expected to double to over 50000 acres.
Praying for all the first responders.

Flyer

It has reached 100,000 hectares...roughly 300,000 acres...and expected to double on top of THAT....

More prayers on the way for the folks caught in the maw of this monster.

Is it burning a lot of trees, with crown fires, or is it mainly a prairie fire?

Based on the news photos it was primarily a tree fire until it started burning buildings. I believe the present count is 1600 dwellings burned up.

Jim

That area is Boreal forest and muskeg. There is potential even for it to burn underground for many years if it gets into peat moss. There are areas, mainly north of there, which are open as well due to reclamation activities.

We are already getting smoke in the Medicine Hat area where I live as the wind has changed. We are maybe 18 hours south of the fire.

Bad scene, prayers every day for all affected. If you get the chance to donate something, please do.

Howdy fom south of the firestorm !
This devil is s CAT6 fire and will more than likely be upgraded in time!🙀
This fire jumped the Athsbasca River at a point where it is close to 600 yards wide !
No words can describe what I went through getting my family out and I was not in too bad a shape compared to some .
As far as I can tell, from Google earth my house is still intact as is my son's and s friend's place who we originally thought had lost it.
Many have lost everything and have small kids etc.

However , to put things in place you must realize this about the people who live up here . We are a high majority of outdoorsman , tough as nails and very resourceful . To boot , a very high number of city residents are trained in first aid and industrial safety procedures .l and know how to deal with emergencies
Despite only one road north and one road out of the city until about 30 miles out, 88,000 people evacuated , an entire hospital was evacuated in two hours,a seniors home evacuated in one shot with two motor coaches ,5 construction camps opened up to house the evacuees,with two babies born in the process and NO LOSS of life !!

On Thursdsy night the wind changed and drove thr true south into the town of Anzac and forced the of the emergency shelters , Anzac, and the Fort McMurray first nations to the village of Conklin another 60 or so miles south .
However it has now shifted to the North east into the boreal forest area that is uninhabited , it is over 90,000 hectares now .
There were several fatalities yesterday down by Lac La Biche when a tanker hit an SUV setting off another fire .

This whole scenario is hopped off by many stories of people loading up their trucks and trailers with supplies and fuel and rolling north to help thise stranded on the road - simply unbelievable !!
BTW we have lost over 1,600 homes so far
Cat

Cat, I have missed your posts, but with the news of the fire I have been thinking of you and wondering how you were doing even more.

I have good memories of Fort McMurray and the people there. Many years ago, my truck broke down a few miles from town, and I do not think a single vehicle passed me without stopping to try to help.

Cat, please keep us updated with some more posts if you can.

John

I'd say this expresses the attitude of Albertans and Canucks perfectly,;

http://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/rex-murphy-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-1.3569425

They are now reporting 156,000 hectares.

Good morning :
Just got word that Syncrude has been ordered to shut down, and all personal are being evacuated along with their camp.
I am trying to find out if it is a general order or if it is s Syncrude corporate decision .
The fire is expected to double in size by this weekend
Cat

Cat: thanks for posting and keeping us up to date. We are watching this one closely with heavy hearts at Casa Ingwe.