Evacuations increase as wildfire spreads in Alberta, Canada

2016-05-06 177

A huge wildfire raging near Fort McMurray in central Canada has spread, forcing further evacuations and pushing the emergency operations centre 300 km south.

Three more communities have been forced to flee a dangerous wildfire in Canada. https://t.co/fTnNRv6swR pic.twitter.com/Q48SXk9cnk— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) May 5, 2016


It has increased at least five-fold in size since it broke out on Sunday (May 1) and now covers an area of 850 square km.

The entire province of Alberta is under a state of emergency.

The Premier of Alberta Province, Rachel Notley, gave this statement:
“It’s not just Fort McMurray, although without question, this is by far the largest and most severely affected community. So we’re asking all Albertans to be extremely careful and do everything they can to reduce all fire hazards.”

Some 88,000 people have been forced to evacuate Fort McMurray, while over 1,600 homes and other buildings have been destroyed.

Evacuees find safe haven as wildf