Canadian Convoy Begins, Hoping To Flee Wildfire Zone

[Purveyor]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- A massive convoy was under way Friday to move evacuees stranded at oil field camps north of Fort McMurray, Alberta amid a massive wildfire that officials fear could double in size by the end of Saturday.

As police and military oversaw the procession of at least 500 vehicles, a mass airlift of evacuees resumed. A day after 8,000 people were flown out, 5,500 more were expected to be flown out on Friday and another 4,000 were expected to be airlifted Saturday.

More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray in the heart of Canada' oil sands, where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings. The mass evacuation has forced as much as a quarter of Canada's oil output offline according to estimates and is expected to impact a country already hurt by a dramatic fall in the price of oil.

The Alberta provincial government, which declared a state of emergency, said Friday the size of the fire had grown to more than 101,000 hectares (249,571 acres). No deaths or injuries have been reported.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CN_CANADA_WILDFIRE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-06-20-01-26

[Hekate]

1. That's apocalyptic. How terrifying for them.

[certainot]

2. & we let 90 universities endorse rw radio's GW denial

we allow these 90 universities to endorse 268 limbaugh stations, and they are all dedicated to global warming denial

that is fucked up

most of them probably would have to change programming if protestors began a community discussion of this absurdity - advertisers would flee

[Ptah]

3. The University of Arizona does not broadcast sports on Limbaugh's station.

Your list is out of date.

[certainot]

9. thanks, but i think it does - ktan is limbaugh, or was

my limbaugh list may have changed but i'll bet one or two others are also rw radio, maybe not limbaugh

did you check this list?

Wildcat radio affiliates
Douglas KDAP - 96.5 FM
Flagstaff KVNA - 600 AM
Globe KIKO - 106.1 FM
Las Vegas, Nev. KLAV - 1230 AM
Needles, Calif. KTOX - 1340 AM
Phoenix KKNT - 960 AM
Safford/Thatcher KWRQ - 102.1 FM
Show Low KVSL - 1450 AM
Sierra Vista/Bisbee KTAN - 1420 AM
Tucson # KCUB - 1290 AM
Tucson (Games Only) KHYT - 107.5 FM
Tucson** KQTL - 1210 AM
Winslow KINO - 1230 AM
Prescott KNOT - 1450 AM
Yuma KBLU - 560 AM

[Ptah]

10. From Wikipedia

KTAN ( 1420 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Classic Country format. Licensed to Sierra Vista, Arizona, USA, the station serves the Southwestern Cochise County area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTAN

[certainot]

11. it was on his station list so they may have switched over

last couple of years

thanks

[certainot]

12. from wiki - success for stoprush!!!!

From 1998 to 1999 they broadcast a contemporary Christian format. In 1999 KTAN switched to a news/talk format, that became popular with AM stations in the 1990s. They aired the popular conservative talk shows plus some local talk shows.[3] In July 2015 they switched their programing to classic country/western. This was done because of declining advertising revenues. Local advertisers were becoming leery of having their business name associated with controversial topics and programs.[4

[Hekate]

4. I wonder what kind of mutual aid agreement they have with the States....

It really looks like the Canadians could use some help with this monster.

[Monk06]

5. Nothing much can be done except try to save what remains of Fort Mac and let the fire burn itself

out It has already burned out an area larger than the City of Toronto including most of Metro Toronto
water bombers are futile at this point due to lack of visibilty and the shear size of the fire's perimeter

I have a nephew who still had his house yesterday No news today but everyone is bracing for the whole town to be gone

The oil sands will be completely shut down simply from lack of workers or places to house them

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/05/05/size-of-fort-mcmurray-fire-grows-as-fast-as-losses-mount.html

[Hekate]

6. I have no idea of their terrain, but in California we have a policy of containment....

....pushing the fires into the backcountry, just letting them burn themselves out if necessary. Ecologically, California was made to burn, but we have 38 million people living here and they have to be protected. A big chunk of the budget is devoted to this, and every county in California is linked by mutual aid agreements, as far as I know. All the dry Western states are as well.

I just looked up Canada's population -- only 35 million, and obviously a huge amount of open space. I'm thinking the individual provinces don't have resources for something of this magnitude.

I'm so sorry for the plight of the folks in the fire's path. It looks like they're pretty much getting out with just the clothes on their backs.

[Monk06]

7. Yeah but the Fort Mac peeps are pretty upbeat Hard to keep them down

https://www.facebook.com/sarah.brooks.10441?fref=nf

[Hekate]

8. All the best to them!

[XemaSab]

13. Differences with California:

We basically have a small army & air force dedicated to fighting fire. A thousand fire trucks and ten thousand firefighters can be anywhere in the state in 15 hours or so. We have a backcountry road network that's maintained for emergency vehicles.

http://calfire.ca.gov/fire_protection/fire_protection_air_program

We also have the terrain, as you said. In some ways, our steep terrain lets us set backfires and use other topographic tools to get a handle on fires. (Fire moves much faster uphill than it does downhill, so if you have a fire going up one side, you can clear a firebreak across the ridge, put a line of chemicals across the ridge, or send a fire up the other side to meet it.)

I think we're generally way more prepared here, but hot and windy is no good.

It's 85 degrees and windy there.

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. Wow