'Unseasonable', but what is actually now 'seasonable' fire forces evacuation

Fire sweeps into northern Alberta city and
authorities order mandatory evacuation.

The entire population of a northern Alberta city has been ordered to evacuate as a wildfire whipped by high winds engulfed homes and sent ash raining down on residents.

All of the town of Fort McMurray, with the exception of Parson’s Creek, was under a mandatory evacuation order on Tuesday, said Robin Smith, press secretary for the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo in the Canadian province.

More than 80,000 residents were being directed to evacuation centres outside Fort McMurray, but journeys were made difficult as the main road out of the city – highway 63 – was licked by flames.

One evacuation centre, on an island in the Athabasca river, had filled up, Smith said. Entire neighbourhoods were destroyed, emergency officials said, but there were no reports of injuries.

Read The Guardian story - “Forest Fire Leads to Evacuation of Neighborhoods in Northern AlbertaTown.”

(“Unseasonably hot temperatures” have been attributed to causing the wildfire which has engulfed a northern Alberta community – maybe it is time to acknowledge that in the age of climate change what is happening is actually “seasonable” – Robert McLean.)