“#ymmfire” refers to the airport code for the Fort McMurray International Airport in Alberta. The entire population of the city, more than 80,000, was ordered to evacuate when it became obvious it was going to be overrun by the fire.
Below is an excerpt from a May 4, 2016 article at Slate about the weather in Canada:
…Canada’s northern forests have been burning more frequently over recent decades as temperatures there are rising at twice the rate of the global average. A 2013 analysis showed that the boreal forests of Alaska and northern Canada are now burning at a rate unseen in at least the past 10,000 years. The extreme weather of recent months is also closely linked with the ongoing record-setting El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean, which tends to bring a warmer and drier winter to this part of Canada. Last month, Canadian officials mentioned the possibility of “large fires” after over-winter snowpack was 60 to 85 percent below normal and drought conditions worsened.
This week, a strong atmospheric blocking pattern—a semi-stable extreme arrangement of the jet stream—reinforced an unseasonable heat wave and helped temperatures reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday in Fort McMurray, 40 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, eight degrees above the daily record high, 15 degrees warmer than Houston, and the same temperature as Miami. While fleeing, some evacuees had to turn on their air conditioners…
Smoke from the fires in Alberta, primarily the 210,000-acre blaze near Fort McMurray, is affecting Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the north-central United States, and many areas in the eastern U.S.
The map above was generated by NOAA at 12:20 p.m. MDT today. The light-colored areas represent the presence of wildfire smoke. The NOAA map below is from 3:45 a.m. MDT May 5.
The next map is from WeatherUnderground:
Smoke map May 6, 2016. Weatherunderground.
To see the most current smoke reports, visit the articles tagged “smoke” at https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/
THIS ARTICLE WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATED. We started a fresh thread on May 16 and will update it as needed.
(UPDATE at 9:41 p.m. MDT, May 9, 2016)
On Monday evening Alberta Wildfire Management updated the size of the huge fire in the Fort McMurray area, now saying it is 204,000 hectares, which is over half a million acres (504,000 acres) and 788 square miles.
The cooler and more humid weather in the forecast for the next few days should give firefighters a better chance to make some progress in slowing the fire down in certain areas. A few locations received some light rain over the last day or two.
Alberta Wildfire Management revised the reported size of the Fort McMurray fire to 161,000 hectares, an increase of 4,000 over this morning’s figure.
The Alberta government has not responded to an offer from Russia to supply ground and aerial resources to assist with the fire.
Below is an excerpt from an article at ctvnews:
…The offer involves sending converted Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes — the kind occasionally leased by the Canadian military — that can dump as much as “42 tons of fire retardant into fire spots,” according to a statement on the web site of Russia’s Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters.
In addition, Moscow said it has “rescuers and specialists with necessary equipment” ready to help on the ground, if need be…
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(UPDATED at 10 a.m. MDT, May 8, 2016)
The fire at Fort McMurray, Alberta did not grow a much as expected on Saturday. The satellite detections of heat Saturday night showed some expansion on the southeast side but there were no major additions to the footprint. Sunday morning Alberta Wildfire Management is reporting the same size as 24 hours before, 157,000 hectares (387,000 acres). Perhaps they will show a revised figure when they get a chance for a mapping flight.
Map showing heat detected by a satellite on the Fort McMurray fire. The most current heat (some of the red dots) on the map were detected at 10:43 p.m. May 7, 2016.
In the video below Wildfire Manager Chad Morrison gave an update on the fire as of Saturday.
The weather on Sunday could promote more growth of the fire on the east and northeast sides. The high at Fort McMurray will be 65 °F under partly cloudy skies, with 20 percent relative humidity and 18 mph winds out of the west-southwest.
Aerial footage, below, of Fort McMurray looks at the destruction in the Abasand and Beacon Hill neighborhoods.
Alberta Wildfire Management reported Saturday morning that the fire near Fort McMurray has burned 157,000 hectares (387,000 acres). That is almost double the size reported Friday morning, but many of those additional hectares were acquired on Thursday.
Map showing heat detected by a satellite on the Fort McMurray fire. The most current heat (some of the red dots) on the map were detected at 11:47 p.m. May 6, 2016.
On Friday the fire continued to spread to the southeast and is now on both sides of Highway 881 southwest of Anzac. There was also significant growth north of Fort McMurray on the east side of Highway 63.
The weather on Saturday will be conducive to additional spread of the fire to the east and northeast. The temperature at Fort McMurray will reach 80 °F, with 19 percent relative humidity and west-southwest winds of 6 to 13 mph.
On many recent days the temperature in this area of Alberta has been far higher than average. Historically the average high at Fort McMurray in April is 49 °F, and in May is 63 °F. On Tuesday the high temperature set a new record, eight degrees above the record high for that date.
On Friday about 1,200 vehicles with residents who had fled north from Fort McMurray and then became stranded were escorted south back down Highway 63 through the fire and the heavily damaged city. They will relocate at least temporarily in emergency shelters or with friends or family far from the fire. Helicopters hovered overhead to watch for flare-ups along the highway, one of which halted the convoy for an hour.
Others are being airlifted out of the fire zone, as were 7,000 on Thursday, according to authorities. About 15,000 people remain stranded north of the devastated city, but not all will leave, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said.
The fires in Alberta continue to send smoke into Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the central United States, and many areas in the eastern U.S. To see the most current smoke reports on Wildfire Today, visit the articles tagged “smoke” at https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/
In this video, Member of Parliament Arnold Viersen speaks out against the $15 million reduction in Alberta’s provincial budget for wildfire suppression. The funds allotted for air tankers was cut by $5.1 million while the base wildfire management budget was slashed by $9.6 million.
“The province has reduced the operating contracts, for not just us but the other air tanker operator, from 123 days to 93 days,” [Mr. Lane] said.
“Effectively that will mean that all the air tanker assets in Alberta will come up contract by August 16. The province has no guarantee of availability after that period of those air tanker assets.”
From the Edmonton Journal:
With dry conditions and dozens of blazes already burning across Alberta, Premier Rachel Notley said Tuesday her government’s decision to slash the wildfire budget by $15 million this year won’t impact the province’s firefighting efforts.
Notley chalked the matter up to simple budgetary practices that has the province earmark base funding, with the understanding firefighting efforts are covered in the province’s emergency budget.
“In no way, shape or form are we suggesting that we wouldn’t put every bit of resources that are required to ensure that fires are appropriately fought as they arise,” Notley told reporters at a Red Deer news conference. “This is the way these kinds of emergent and non-predictable costs are typically budgeted.”
Last year, the province spent $375 million fighting wildfires; none of that money was earmarked in the budget, but instead came directly from emergency funding.
After [the air tanker] contracts expire Aug. 16, the province will hire planes on case by case basis as needed, but critics say that could leave the government in a vulnerable position if companies look for longer-term contracts elsewhere.
Firefighters can be seen on the left side of the smoke column escaping from a swirling vortex created by a wildfire at Big Lake in the Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park in Alberta. Screen grab from the Diane Logan video below.
Firefighters from Alberta’s St. Albert Fire Department had a close call Thursday April 14 while fighting a wildfire at Big Lake in the Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park (map). The fire intensity increased very suddenly as the flames moved into a heavy patch of flashy fuel. The heated, rising air began swirling or rotating in a manner that is not uncommon on wildfires. This is usually called a “fire whirl”. But it kept building and growing larger — beyond what most firefighters would call a fire whirl and approached what is sometimes known as a “fire tornado”.
In the image above and the video below, firefighters on the left side of the smoke column were forced to run away from the very extreme fire behavior. One of them, Vincent Pashko, a nine-year veteran with the St. Albert fire department, can be seen emerging from the smoke sprinting toward the Sturgeon River. Here is an excerpt from the St. Albert Gazette:
…“Before I knew it, I heard the guys screaming at me, ‘Watch out!’” Pashko said.
“I turned around and I saw this big wall of hot ash coming towards me.”
Paschko turned away and could feel the heat burning the back of his ears and neck. “Holy smokes,” he recalled thinking, “this is more serious than I thought.”
Paschko ran into the Sturgeon [River] and dunked his head underwater for protection.
“I was booting it! I could have won the Olympics this year, I think!”
While this was definitely a close call, Paschko said at the time he was more worried about his fellow firefighters, as he wasn’t sure if they had been caught up in the blaze. When he heard them calling him, he shouted back, “I’m OK, I’m OK,” and returned to shore.
The vortex itself, which rose up several hundred feet, swirled out over the water and petered out about halfway across the river, [Stewart] Loomis said.
Pashko said he was taken to the Sturgeon Community Hospital after he had calmed down a bit where he was treated for smoke inhalation. He was back at work Friday with a bit of blistering around his ears, face, and the back of his neck…
The video below was filmed by Diane Logan. Click the arrows at bottom-right to see it in full-screen mode.
Truly incredible video of fire tornado that happened during brush fire causing our firefighter to escape into river pic.twitter.com/8BdeZDfeL5
