Spurred on by tinder dry conditions in the evergreen forest that surrounds Fort McMurray — the headquarters for Canada’s oil sands mining industry — unseasonably hot temperatures, fast winds and no rain, the blaze had consumed 1.3 million acres as of last week. It is still burning in eastern Alberta and nearby west Saskatchewan, but is more than 70 percent contained. At its height, the fire crossed a 1,200-foot-wide river thanks to high winds blowing embers onto dry trees on the other side.
“This is the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta history,” said Alberta government spokesperson John Archer. “This mass evacuation caused congested highways as there is only one major highway north and south of Fort McMurray. Some motorists were stranded, many motorists didn’t have enough fuel, some people abandoned their vehicles and some families were temporarily separated.” As the emergency wore on, Albertans from other areas brought food and fuel to the highway to aid Fort McMurray evacuees in making their escape.
The only casualties were two people killed in an SUV/tractor-trailer collision during the evacuation. First responders were able to save Fort McMurray’s downtown core, hospital and airport, and the city’s electrical, gas and water infrastructure, thanks to the targeted deployment of ground based firefighters, water-toting helicopters and fixed wing water bombers.
“Normally we have about 10 people in our Regional Emergency Operations Center (REOC)” said Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) Fire Chief Darby Allen. “At the height of the fire/evacuation, we had as many as 25 people in there, including emergency personnel from the oil sands industry and other levels of government.” Served by a backup power generator, the REOC’s laptop computers, displays, and radio and telephone communications equipment were functional throughout. Having access to such portable technology proved to be vital as the crisis wore on, since the REOC had to be evacuated for a few hours when the fire briefly threatened its location.
A Typical Wildfire That Quickly Got Out of Control
Given its location in the boreal forest — the band of evergreen forest that rings the world’s northern areas south of the treeless tundra and frozen North Pole — dealing with wildfires is a way of life for RMWB officials. “In fact, in the Wednesday Thursday before the fire hit on Sunday, May 1, our fire department and forestry had been dealing with four wildfires close to our town site,” Darby said. “Our firefighters got all four of these extinguished by early Sunday morning, when news of another fire came in. Since this fire was approximately 15.5 miles west of Fort McMurray, we didn’t see it as an imminent threat, just another wildfire to be put out.”
Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. The combination of a superdry forest, unseasonably hot and dry temperatures, no rain for days, and high winds that kept shifting direction spurred the fast expanding fire toward Fort McMurray. “By Sunday afternoon, we had activated the REOC and started getting a handle on the situation,” said RMWB Assistant Deputy Chief Chris Graham. “To say the least, we were very surprised at how quickly the situation escalated, and how soon we went from fighting a wildfire to launching an evacuation, first on a neighborhood basis and then for the whole city as the fire attacked on multiple fronts.”
Working with 32 on duty firefighters and 65 off duty personnel who came in to help, the REOC’s managers quickly realized that the fire was out of control, with hundred foot flames so hot that firefighters couldn’t get close enough to fight it in some areas. This is when the REOC called in extra help from other municipalities, the oil sands companies whose camps lie north of the city, the Canadian military and other levels of government. At the height of the fire, up to a hundred helicopters and fixed wing water bombers were flying overhead, doing their best to hit hot spots while not hitting each other.
“With the fire out of control and our resources limited, we had to make strategic decisions about what to save,” said Alberta Deputy Director of Emergency Management Dale Benfeld. “It came down to three priorities. The first was to save people first, by evacuating them out of the fire zone. The second was to protect critical infrastructure that would help our first responders do this and fight the fire, such as bridges and key roads. The third priority was protecting our water treatment and pumping facility to ensure that firefighters had access to the water they needed citywide.”
“We also did our best to cope by working on strategically important ‘small things,’ and letting their resolution contribute to our overall success,” Allen said. “This approach helped us keep focused and not get overwhelmed by the magnitude of the crisis. It allowed us to stay calm and productive.”
One of the REOC’s most important “small things” was how it decided to handle the evacuation. Knowing that sending all 80,000-plus evacuees south on the city’s only highway could result in gridlock, the REOC’s managers opted to send some of the them north to the oil sands work camps instead.
“At the time, these work camps were not under immediate threat, and they had the facilities to house our residents, and even airstrips to bring in planes to fly them out,” Benfeld said. “So that’s what we did. We sent evacuees in both directions, reducing the load on the southbound route and winning ourselves time to cope with other pressing issues. This proved to be a landmark decision. By the time evacuees who had gone north needed to flee south due to the Beast’s shifting path, the other residents had long gone and left the highway open.”
The REOC also did its best to keep local residents informed through social media. “We did a lot on Facebook, but Twitter was our real lifeline to residents,” Graham said. “As soon as we got news, we broke it to them and they responded to it. Meanwhile residents also contacted us via text and email during the crisis, with my own device getting an average of 272 messages an hour.”
