By Chester Dawson
CALGARY, Alberta -- Raging forest fires in Canada's oil-rich
province of Alberta have forced the evacuation of some 88,000
residents of the town of Fort McMurray, shutting down one major
oil-sands mining operation on Wednesday and reducing output at
another.
Roughly 1,600 buildings in Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada's
oil-sands industry, have been damaged by fire, said Alberta Premier
Rachel Notley in a news conference Wednesday.
Most of the city's residents were able to evacuate to towns and
cities south of Fort McMurray, but about 10,000 people were
relocated to several oil-sands work camps north of the city, she
said.
"Of course, the weather is a key issue and this afternoon is
going to be a challenge for us," Ms. Notley said.
Heavy winds and unseasonably warm temperatures on Wednesday were
expected to make the blaze worse than the previous day, Chad
Morrison, Alberta's senior manager of wildfire prevention,
said.
The uncontrolled fires have razed parts of several residential
neighborhoods, entered the downtown district and threatened a key
bridge connecting the northern and southern parts of town,
officials said.
Across the province, many private citizens opened their homes to
those fleeing the fires, officials said.
The evacuation is the largest in Alberta's history, forcing
residents in more than 12 northern communities including Fort
McMurray to leave their homes, according to the Canadian Red Cross.
Red Cross set up a toll-free number to help evacuees connect with
family members.
No injuries or casualties have been reported, even as the fires
continued to sweep through areas in and around Fort McMurray. Local
authorities didn't have an estimate for the number of homes or
other properties damaged or destroyed.
The rapid spread of the blaze has started to affect operations
at major oil-sands productions sites. The oil-sands facilities
aren't directly threatened by the uncontrolled forest fires, but
mandatory evacuations of workers have brought some operations to a
halt.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC's Canadian unit halted its oil-sands
mining operations, which produce about 250,000 barrels a day, to
speed evacuations of people who fled to the site, which is about 60
miles north of the fires. A spokesman didn't provide an estimate
for how long the shutdown is expected to last.
Suncor Energy Inc., Canada's largest oil producer, said late
Tuesday that it reduced production at all of its oil-sands
operations due to the forced evacuations. It also said that none of
its operations were in the path of the forest fires. Exxon Mobil
Corp.'s Canadian unit, Imperial Oil Ltd., said it was evacuating
nonessential employees but that production hasn't been affected "at
this time," according to a spokeswoman.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he has pledged
support for the residents of Fort McMurray and the province of
Alberta.
"We will be there for them," Mr. Trudeau said Wednesday. "We all
have to work together to provide all possible assistance to the
people who are going through a terrible time, who have lost their
homes, lost their jobs and have lost all their property. They are
asking a lot of questions about their future."
Canada's total oil-sands production is around 2 million barrels
a day, much of which is exported to the U.S.
Oil-sands producers have opened worker camps north of Fort
McMurray to about 17,000 evacuees and flew out employees not based
in the area to make room for displaced residents, Mr. Schmitte told
reporters.
The fires, which started late Sunday, spread from a forested
area southwest of Fort McMurray and crossed the Athabasca River
bisecting the town Monday. They began to threaten residential
neighborhoods by midday Tuesday, prompting evacuations.
Firefighters were overwhelmed by the blaze and were unable to
stop it despite aerial and ground-based efforts.
"I don't believe there's anything [that] could have been done
with respect to firefighting that would have saved any more
property," said Darby Allen, Fort McMurray's regional fire
chief.
The town is located in a remote area of northern Alberta
surrounded by boreal forests consisting largely of jack pine and
fir trees.
Southbound traffic on Highway 63, the city's main arterial road,
resumed late Tuesday after being shut down earlier in the day as a
precautionary measure due to the wildfires. An estimated 18,000
evacuees used the road to flee to Edmonton, about 267 miles south
of Fort McMurray.
Unseasonably warm temperatures and dry weather helped ignite 35
wildfires throughout Alberta by midday Tuesday, and a provincewide
fire ban is in place, according to the provincial government.
--David George-Cosh and Paul Vieira contributed to this
article.
Write to Chester Dawson at chester.dawson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 04, 2016 14:41 ET (18:41 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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