Fort McMurray, a city located in northeastern Alberta in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, looks like a fiery nightmare to those of us watching the latest images and videos at home. However, for the residents who’ve had to take what they could and escape the ever-increasing wildfires that have all but consumed the area since Wednesday, it is a nightmare. One so massive and overpowering that emergency officials on the scene aren’t sure when, and if, they’ll be able to put out the flames by their own means.
Per NBC News, the fires have consumed over 85,000 hectares — or 328 square miles — according to information provided by Alberta provincial premier Rachel Notley. Or to put it another way, the wildfires in and around Fort McMurray have burned up a space bigger than all five boroughs of New York City combined. Notley added that “conditions are still tinder dry” in the area, which is why the 49 separate infernos and counting were able to expand so rapidly. Firefighters just haven’t been able to douse enough of the flames, and until there’s a wet change in the weather, the situation likely won’t improve anytime soon:
“Because so much of this is dependent on the weather… that means that certainty is not a feature of any statements at this point,” Notley said when asked if the worst of the fire was over. “Until we’ve got it under control, it would not be responsible to make any declarations.”
According to VICE, several Fort McMurray residents have taken to YouTube and social media with dramatic videos and photos of their efforts to escape the blazes. Some, like YouTuber jubavi_moja_uLVNV, have uploaded several raw, unedited videos of the ordeal:
While others have posted compilations of videos recorded by themselves and others, demonstrating the huge rescue and emergency operations currently under way:
Perhaps the most surreal upload came Jared Sabovitch, who spoke to the Toronto Star about a video he took while leaving his house. “That might have been the last time I ever saw my house right there,” he said.
In addition to accounts and footage of homes burning, about to be burned or already reduced to molten heaps of ash, countless other harrowing stories of escape have been pouring out of Fort McMurray since Wednesday. One couple interviewed by CBC News told a fantastic story about how, when they were able to gather up their family and exit the danger zone, “the fire was already licking at the houses.” Tom and Sue Clarke managed to gather their animals and a few basic necessities before they left their Beacon Hill neighborhood, which was already under duress. However, since their two adult children lived in another nearby neighborhood, they decided to split up — Tom stayed with the animals while Sue went to retrieve their son and daughter.
Tom managed to make it to safety, as did his wife and children. However, what the latter three witnessed en route was horrifying. At one point, they came across police breaking and entering into a house — not to steal supplies, but to evacuate an older woman who didn’t speak any English. That’s when officials on the scene spotted Sue’s car:
“They opened my door and they said, ‘just please keep her safe.'”
The woman didn’t speak English.
“I just looked at her and I just promised her that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her,” Sue said through sobs.
Sue took the woman into her care and continued on in a three-car caravan with her kids. She later encountered an East Indian bus driver who helped translate a conversation between the two women, then offered to take care of the elderly person from Sue. “She just really had no idea what was going on around her. It was just so terrifying,” Sue told CBC News. “But people have to come together and you have to be there for each other when we’ve all lost so much.”
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And then there was Jada Polem, the 16-year-old Fort McMurray resident who rode her quarter horse mare Mya to safety when her family was unable to find a trailer spot for the animal. “She was a little nervous,” Polem told Metro, “But she handled it really well. I’m pretty sure she knew what was going on… Drivers were smiling and saying things to me like ‘that’s a good mode of transportation.'”
The Polem family had previously moved their three horses to an area on the south side of town, hoping it would keep them safe from the wildfires. As the damage spread, however, it became clear that nowhere within the nearby vicinity was a safe spot, so they tried to get their animals out of the city. This proved problematic, as Polem’s father only had two spots in his trailer. Since another trailer that had offered to take Mya couldn’t reach them for the traffic, Jada decided to ride the animal instead.
Once out of harm’s way, the family was able to regroup further outside of Fort McMurray, find a trailer spot for Mya and rejoin the evacuation. All parties remain safe as the blazes continue to spread, though they aren’t sure if their house survived the flames.
Nor are the majority of people who’ve evacuated the city and the surrounding area sure if their property is safe. According to what an analyst at Bank of Montreal told CBC News on Thursday, the total damage costs from the fires could reach $9 billion. If, that is, the wildfires continue spreading so rampantly and unchecked that Fort McMurray must be rebuilt from the ground up. Then again, since over 80,000 people and countless homes and other bits of property have already been displaced and destroyed, it’s clear that this is all going to cost a lot of money.
There’s also the matter of oil and gas prices across the globe, and whether these fires will affect international markets. Considering that the Athabasca oil sands region is home to the third largest oil reserve in the entire world, TIME magazine argues that prices will be affected. In fact, they already have been, as crude futures rose 2.6 percent and spiked oil prices to $45 a barrel, according to a Reuters report. This is all based on the massive Fort McMurray fires, though TIME is quick to point out that nearby facilities in Alberta that specialize in extracting crude haven’t been affected. Though pipelines have been shut down over safety concerns.