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Authorities evacuate over 6,000 people as wildfires approach the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada.
2024-05-15

Residents return to Fort McMurray for the first time since May 1. A couple thousand firefighters, from as far away as South Africa, continue to battle the 5,800 square kilometer (3,603 square mile) Canadian blaze that has crossed the Alberta border into Saskatchewan.
2016-06-1

Alberta authorities update information about the fire. About 2,400 homes and buildings were destroyed, but firefighters saved 25,000 others in the city, including the hospital, municipal buildings, and every functioning school. They expect most of the 88,000 evacuees will return to their homes within two weeks. The fire, which has merged with another blaze, is about 884 square miles (2,090 square kilometers) in size. The majority of Canada's oil sands industry, and a third of the country's total oil output, is offline, though Shell Canada has restarted its Albian Sands mining operations.
2016-05-10

Since the fire has intermittently blocked the only route south toward Alberta's major cities, evacuees have had to go north toward oil camps and a few small settlements. The province has airlifted 4,000 people to Edmonton and Calgary as of late Thursday. Roughly 20 percent of Canada's crude oil production, around 680,000 barrels per day, is offline and is expected to increase. There are no known casualties from the fire, which today has grown to 210,000 acres (85,000 hectares), but fatalities are reported in at least one vehicle crash along the evacuation route.
2016-05-5

Reuters reports that Alberta Province, which projects a C$10 billion deficit this fiscal year as the prolonged slump in oil prices has reduced tax revenue, last month cut funding for wildfire prevention, including millions for programs created in response to the province's Slave Lake wildfire in 2011, which destroyed more than 300 homes.
2016-05-5

The western Canadian province of Alberta declares a state of emergency as devastating wildfires, fed by unseasonably hot temperatures and dry conditions, grow to five times their initial size. The mandatory evacuation order expands to include the communities of Anzac, Gregoire Lake Estates, and Fort McMurray First Nation, forcing thousands who had just resettled to move again.
2016-05-5

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says the wildfire has destroyed about 1,600 structures in Fort McMurray, which is in Canada's oil sands region. No major oil sands facilities are in the fire's path, though two Royal Dutch Shell mines are closing, and a Suncor Energy facility is reducing crude production. The fire is threatening the Alberta Highway 63 bridge across the Athabasca River, the sole route south. The Canadian Red Cross is encouraging people to donate funds rather than clothing.
2016-05-4

A mandatory evacuation order for more than 29,000 people remains in place for the Canadian town of Fort McMurray, Alberta, which is threatened by an out of control wildfire.
2016-05-3

An out-of-control forest fire near the Canadian town of Fort McMurray in Alberta causes the closure of Highway 63.
2011-09-25