Tag: wildfire
Canada Officials Start To Get A Handle On Largest Wildfire

Canada Officials Start To Get A Handle On Largest Wildfire

Canadian officials on Sunday showed some optimism for the first time that they were beginning to get on top of the country’s biggest wildfire, as cooler weather and light rain stopped the blaze from growing as much as feared and winds took the flames away from oil sands boomtown Fort McMurray.

“It definitely is a positive point for us, for sure,” said Alberta fire official Chad Morrison in a news briefing, when asked if the fight to contain the flames had a reached a turning point.

“We’re obviously very happy that we’ve held the fire better than expected,” said Morrison. “This is great firefighting weather, we can really get in here and get a handle on this fire, and really get a death grip on it.”

The wildfire scorching through Canada’s oil sands region in northeast Alberta had been expected to double in size on Sunday, threatening the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, as it moved into its seventh day.

But favorable weather helped hold it back, giving officials hope that they can soon begin assessing the damage to Fort McMurray, close to where the fire started, causing its 88,000 inhabitants to flee.

“As more and more fire has burned out around the city and the fuel around the city starts to disappear… we are starting to move into that second phase of securing the site and assessing the site,” said Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, during the same media briefing.

Officials said it was too early to put a timeline on getting people back into the town safely.

The broader wildfire, moving southeast through wooded areas away from the town, would still take a long time to “clean up,” Morrison cautioned. Officials had previously warned that the fire could burn for months.

An Alberta government statement issued on Saturday night said the fire had consumed 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) – an area the size of Mexico City – and would continue to grow.

Fort McMurray is the center of Canada’s oil sands region. About half of the crude output from the sands, or one million barrels per day, had been taken offline as of Friday, according to a Reuters estimate.

The inferno looks set to become the costliest natural disaster in Canada’s history. One analyst estimated insurance losses could exceed C$9 billion ($7 billion).

Officials said on Sunday the fire had done minor damage at CNOOC unit Nexen’s Long Lake facility, in the site’s yard. It was the first reported damage to an energy industry asset since the crisis began.

Morrison said the fire was southwest of a Suncor Energy Inc facility, which Suncor identified as its base oil sands mining site north of Fort McMurray, and also near an unidentified Syncrude facility.

Air tankers, helicopters and bulldozers had kept the fire from reaching those sites, said Morrison: “We’ll see how the day goes, but with the cooler weather, I do expect to hold the fire there.”

 

FORT MCMURRAY STILL OFF LIMITS

Even though the fire has largely pushed through Fort McMurray, the town is still too dangerous to enter.

Thousands of evacuees are camped out in nearby towns but stand little chance of returning soon, even if their homes are intact. The city’s gas has been turned off, its power grid is damaged, and the water is undrinkable.

Provincial officials said displaced people would be better off driving to cities such as Calgary, 655 km (410 miles) to the south, where health and social services were better.

The provincial government has promised evacuees pre-paid debit cards to cover immediate costs, with C$1,250 per adult and C$500 per dependent, expected to cost about C$100 million.

After the scare of her life escaping the fire on Tuesday, housekeeping supervisor Susie Demelo got some welcome good news on Saturday. New satellite images showed the house she rents in Fort McMurray was still standing.

Demelo and her partner had no insurance on their belongings.

“I’m very blessed and grateful,” she said. “And nobody has died in the fire.”

Through Friday and Saturday, police escorted thousands of evacuees who had been forced to flee north from Fort McMurray back through the burning town, to allow them to head south to Alberta’s major cities. By Sunday morning, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman said that process was complete.

Some residents were complaining about the lack of news from the town, fire chief Darby Allen said in a video posted online late on Saturday.

“We know from all the calls that you’re getting frustrated because you don’t have any information on your homes. We’re really working hard on that, it’s a complicated process,” he said.

More than 500 firefighters were in and around Fort McMurray, along with 15 helicopters, 14 air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment, officials said.

 

(Additional reporting by Ethan Lou, Allison Martell and David Ljunggren; Writing by Bill Rigby; Editing by Digby Lidstone and Alan Crosby)

Photo: Smoke and flames from the wildfires erupt behind a car on the highway near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, May 7, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Wildfire Grows To 6,000 Acres Near Napa Valley; Evacuations Ordered

Wildfire Grows To 6,000 Acres Near Napa Valley; Evacuations Ordered

By Joseph Serna and Matt Hamilton, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

LOS ANGELES — Unpredictable winds and difficult terrain helped a fast-moving brush fire near Lake Berryessa grow 1,000 acres overnight and has triggered more evacuations in Napa and Sonoma counties, fire officials said Thursday.

The Wraggs fire was 6,000 acres and only 5 percent contained Thursday morning, a 1,000-acre increase in a single night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“The fire has remained … at a rapid rate of spread,” Cal Fire said in a news release. “The terrain is brush-covered, rugged and steep, with difficult access. Winds are erratic.”

The blaze first broke out about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday near Highway 128 and Greaves Road, Cal Fire said.

Flames spread swiftly through the steep, rugged terrain near the borders of Napa, Solano, and Yolo counties, Cal Fire officials said.

Evacuations were ordered for Cold Canyon, Mix Canyon, and Quail Ridge. Three hikers in Cold Canyon were rescued, said Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant. Campers in the Canyon Creek and Lake Solano campgrounds were also evacuated, officials said.

About 200 structures are threatened in the Quail Ridge Community, Cal Fire reported. The Red Cross has opened an evacuation center.

An estimated 525 firefighters are battling the flames, which prompted a closure of Highway 128 and Wragg Canyon, according to the state fire agency.

A vehicle collision was initially believed to have sparked the blaze. The exact cause remains under investigation, Berlant said.

The Red Cross opened a shelter for evacuees at the Winters Community Center in Winters, California.

Photo: USFWS/Southeast via Flickr

California’s Air Tanker Fleet Grounded After Deadly Yosemite Crash

California’s Air Tanker Fleet Grounded After Deadly Yosemite Crash

By Joseph Serna, Los Angeles Times

All of California’s 22 S-2T air tankers have been grounded after one of the aircraft crashed while fighting a wildfire in Yosemite National Park, killing the sole pilot.
Most of the tankers haven’t been in use recently, as the large wildfires that raced across the central and northern parts of the state this summer have largely been brought under control. But the fleet will remain grounded until deemed safe by officials, Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Wednesday.
California is one of a handful of states to maintain a fleet of firefighting planes. The S-2T tankers, which can carry up to 1,200 gallons of retardant, are essentially old Navy aircraft that were retrofitted “from nose to tail,” including with turbine prop engines that were added in the 1990s, he said.
The tanker that crashed Tuesday was among a handful of aircraft fighting the 130-acre Dog Rock fire, which broke out that afternoon on El Portal Road between the Yosemite’s boundary and the Arch Rock entrance station, officials said.
Debris from the crash was scattered on Highway 140, which was closed because of the blaze.
“This is obviously a very tragic situation, this pilot was one of our family,” Berlant said.
The pilot’s family has requested his name not be released until all immediate family has been notified, officials said.
Berlant said the pilot worked for DynCorp International, which also maintains Cal Fire’s planes.
A representative for DynCorp reached by The LA Times early Wednesday had no immediate comment.
The cause of the crash was under investigation, but it was clear and not too windy at the time the crash, Berlant said.
A California Highway Patrol officer who witnessed the explosion told the Associated Press that the air tanker appeared to hit a canyon wall while attempting to make a drop.
“I heard a large explosion, I looked up on the steep canyon wall and saw aircraft debris was actually raining down the side of the mountain after the impact,” said CHP Sgt. Chris Michael, who was stopping traffic along the highway when the plane went down.
“It hit the steep side of the canyon wall,” he added. “It appeared from the direction he was going, he was trying to make a drop down the side of the canyon when he hit the canyon wall.”
By Tuesday night, rescuers had climbed to the wreckage, which was perched on a 2,500-foot escarpment near El Portal.
Michael said pieces of the aircraft landed on the highway and came close to hitting fire crews on the ground nearby.
“It most definitely did disintegrate on impact,” he said. “It was nothing. I didn’t see anything but small pieces.”
Staff writers Adolfo Flores and Julie Cart contributed to this report.

AFP Photo/Mike Mcmillan

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Wildfire ‘Larger Than Las Vegas’ Rages In California

Wildfire ‘Larger Than Las Vegas’ Rages In California

Los Angeles (AFP) — California firefighters were battling a wildfire that is larger than Las Vegas, with the U.S. state officially facing one of its worst years for the blazes in recent memory.

Nearly 7,500 firefighters are struggling with the so-called King Fire east of Sacramento, which has forced almost 3,000 people to evacuate.

The wildfire is only 35 percent contained and is threatening thousands of buildings and homes.

California is currently in the third year of its worst drought in decades, with flames fanned by high winds in tinder-dry forests. Some 95 percent of the fires are found to be caused by humans, whether by accident or design.

Five major blazes are currently raging across California, including the King Fire, which was started on September 13, allegedly by an arsonist, in El Dorado County, and has so far burned 362 square kilometers (140 square miles) — an area bigger than Las Vegas.

The U.S. state recorded 4,974 wildfires between January 1 and September 20, according to a spokeswoman for CalFire.

That compares to an average of 3,951 fires in the same period over the last five years, said spokeswoman Alyssa Smith.

AFP Photo/Jorge Cruz

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