what started as a small wildfire on May
1st 2016 quickly spiraled out of control
and became an all-encompassing
catastrophe and the real kicker is that
this fire season began early which is
very consistent with the predictions of
climate change welcome to watchmojo.com
the fire is still burning inside and
around the city in this installment
we’re counting down five facts you
should know about the Fort McMurray
wildfire number five what is the Fort
McMurray wildfire in what’s being
described as one of Canada’s worst
disasters in recent history the Fort
McMurray wildfire began on May 1st 2016
in the province of Alberta before
rapidly spreading to the north and the
West engulfing the entire city and some
surrounding areas more than 1600
buildings have been destroyed almost
90,000 people have been displaced and
some analysts predict that the blaze
will rage on for weeks over 770 square
miles have already been affected but
problem areas are still expected to grow
the inferno has been described as being
quote the size of Mexico City bigger
than New York City and far larger than
Canada’s Toronto this has led
Environment Canada to issue numerous air
quality and visibility warnings with the
smoke from the wildfires covering such a
great portion of North America that it
can be seen from space number 4 what
caused the fire
the exact cause remains unknown at this
moment but while experts say the fire
might have started naturally it is more
likely the accidental result of human
actions professor of wildland fire at
the University of Alberta Mike Flanagan
points to two indicators that imply
humans are at fault one the fire started
in close proximity to the city and two
there is a lack of lightning strike data
according to the National Fire database
an average of 1200 wildfires are
reported in Alberta annually and around
50 percent of those are man-made usually
unintentionally regardless of how the
first fires in Fort McMurray came about
however weather conditions in
in Canada have exacerbated the problem
the dry winter led to less snowpack as
well as lots of dry wood and leaves
which proved frightening ly easy to
light
in addition northern Alberta saw not
only record-setting high temperatures in
early May but also particularly dry
conditions both of which meant ideal
circumstances for the fire to burn
longer the weather forecast didn’t bring
too much hope either although some rain
did arrive on Sunday May 8 number 3 how
big is the evacuation Fort McMurray is
under a mandatory evacuation order and
over 80,000 people have fled the city
while some 25,000 travelled northwards
the majority has head itself to Edmonton
Calgary and other major towns Syncrude
one of the world’s largest producers of
synthetic crude oil has also had to
evacuate around 1,500 workers from its
Fort McMurray plant as smoke from the
disaster reached the site and the threat
of fires spreading continued while the
fires themselves had not directly caused
any deaths people have died while
fleeing them on Wednesday May 4th 2016 a
traffic accident occurred between an SUV
and a tractor trailer on highway 881 one
of Fort McMurray main exit routes and
the incident resulted in two casualties
the fires are likely to lead to further
evacuations as they rage on and continue
to move east to neighboring province
Saskatchewan where several communities
near the border named Lila lush and
Buffalo narrows are located number 2 how
have people helped the evacuees
Canadians will and must stand together
to support our friends and neighbors in
this difficult time
the devastation inspired solidarity
throughout Canada in Edmonton taxi
drivers offered free cab rides and the
city opened up access to recreational
centers the airline WestJet was on hand
to evacuate residents and animals
sometimes using air strips at nearby oil
fields local sports teams made sizable
donations to the aid effort while the
Canadian Red Cross says it received in
excess of 30 million dollars as of May 6
2016 this is a considerable amount in
light of the fact that the Canadian
government promised
to match all donations made to the
organization the government will also be
matching individual charitable donations
made to the Canadian Red Cross part of
that figure came from a fundraising
effort in Lac Megantic the Quebec town
that was subject to a rail disaster in
2013 local politician Luke Bell told
said quote three years ago our
population was struck down by tragedy
and all of Canada helped us now it’s our
turn to help this community the Syrian
refugee support group also pooled money
in Calgary and set up online support
groups for victims of the disaster
number one how much damage has been
caused we lost everything now we all
know what we have but our bags the
unrelenting fires rapidly reduced a city
and the forests that surround it to ash
and ruin and analysts expect things to
get worse before they get better
according to some predictions the fires
might not be extinguished for months
insurance losses are expected to exceed
nine billion dollars while Canada’s oil
industry has also been badly hit forcing
the shut down of about 25 percent of the
nation’s oil sands facilities the
closures and evacuations around Fort
McMurray translate to a loss of up to 1
million barrels a day with numerous
local companies scaling back production
and sending workers to safer locales
this has in turn led to instability in
crude oil prices across the country in
short the wildfires have become one of
the most expensive natural disasters in
Canadian history around 1,600 homes have
reportedly been destroyed but that
number is expected to rise significantly
when the fires are put out completely
and the full extent of the damage
becomes clear at this point while the
fires continue to rage it’s difficult to
imagine how Fort McMurray will rebuild
but residents remain defiant quote I
don’t know what’s left of it really said
one evacuate but I know it will stand
again and with cooler temperatures and
light rain in the forecast beginning
Monday May 9th 2016 and lasting a few
days the process has hopefully already
begun to those displaced please remember
we are resilient
we are Canadians and we will make it
through this most
Teru together did these facts get you
thinking the reality is the biggest
factor is the weather to vote for which
news story is covered next head over to
watchmojo.com slash suggest and be sure
to hit that subscribe button for more
newsworthy top 10s published every week
it’s a tough day for Albertans but we
will persevere thank
[Applause]
[Music]
1st 2016 quickly spiraled out of control
and became an all-encompassing
catastrophe and the real kicker is that
this fire season began early which is
very consistent with the predictions of
climate change welcome to watchmojo.com
the fire is still burning inside and
around the city in this installment
we’re counting down five facts you
should know about the Fort McMurray
wildfire number five what is the Fort
McMurray wildfire in what’s being
described as one of Canada’s worst
disasters in recent history the Fort
McMurray wildfire began on May 1st 2016
in the province of Alberta before
rapidly spreading to the north and the
West engulfing the entire city and some
surrounding areas more than 1600
buildings have been destroyed almost
90,000 people have been displaced and
some analysts predict that the blaze
will rage on for weeks over 770 square
miles have already been affected but
problem areas are still expected to grow
the inferno has been described as being
quote the size of Mexico City bigger
than New York City and far larger than
Canada’s Toronto this has led
Environment Canada to issue numerous air
quality and visibility warnings with the
smoke from the wildfires covering such a
great portion of North America that it
can be seen from space number 4 what
caused the fire
the exact cause remains unknown at this
moment but while experts say the fire
might have started naturally it is more
likely the accidental result of human
actions professor of wildland fire at
the University of Alberta Mike Flanagan
points to two indicators that imply
humans are at fault one the fire started
in close proximity to the city and two
there is a lack of lightning strike data
according to the National Fire database
an average of 1200 wildfires are
reported in Alberta annually and around
50 percent of those are man-made usually
unintentionally regardless of how the
first fires in Fort McMurray came about
however weather conditions in
in Canada have exacerbated the problem
the dry winter led to less snowpack as
well as lots of dry wood and leaves
which proved frightening ly easy to
light
in addition northern Alberta saw not
only record-setting high temperatures in
early May but also particularly dry
conditions both of which meant ideal
circumstances for the fire to burn
longer the weather forecast didn’t bring
too much hope either although some rain
did arrive on Sunday May 8 number 3 how
big is the evacuation Fort McMurray is
under a mandatory evacuation order and
over 80,000 people have fled the city
while some 25,000 travelled northwards
the majority has head itself to Edmonton
Calgary and other major towns Syncrude
one of the world’s largest producers of
synthetic crude oil has also had to
evacuate around 1,500 workers from its
Fort McMurray plant as smoke from the
disaster reached the site and the threat
of fires spreading continued while the
fires themselves had not directly caused
any deaths people have died while
fleeing them on Wednesday May 4th 2016 a
traffic accident occurred between an SUV
and a tractor trailer on highway 881 one
of Fort McMurray main exit routes and
the incident resulted in two casualties
the fires are likely to lead to further
evacuations as they rage on and continue
to move east to neighboring province
Saskatchewan where several communities
near the border named Lila lush and
Buffalo narrows are located number 2 how
have people helped the evacuees
Canadians will and must stand together
to support our friends and neighbors in
this difficult time
the devastation inspired solidarity
throughout Canada in Edmonton taxi
drivers offered free cab rides and the
city opened up access to recreational
centers the airline WestJet was on hand
to evacuate residents and animals
sometimes using air strips at nearby oil
fields local sports teams made sizable
donations to the aid effort while the
Canadian Red Cross says it received in
excess of 30 million dollars as of May 6
2016 this is a considerable amount in
light of the fact that the Canadian
government promised
to match all donations made to the
organization the government will also be
matching individual charitable donations
made to the Canadian Red Cross part of
that figure came from a fundraising
effort in Lac Megantic the Quebec town
that was subject to a rail disaster in
2013 local politician Luke Bell told
said quote three years ago our
population was struck down by tragedy
and all of Canada helped us now it’s our
turn to help this community the Syrian
refugee support group also pooled money
in Calgary and set up online support
groups for victims of the disaster
number one how much damage has been
caused we lost everything now we all
know what we have but our bags the
unrelenting fires rapidly reduced a city
and the forests that surround it to ash
and ruin and analysts expect things to
get worse before they get better
according to some predictions the fires
might not be extinguished for months
insurance losses are expected to exceed
nine billion dollars while Canada’s oil
industry has also been badly hit forcing
the shut down of about 25 percent of the
nation’s oil sands facilities the
closures and evacuations around Fort
McMurray translate to a loss of up to 1
million barrels a day with numerous
local companies scaling back production
and sending workers to safer locales
this has in turn led to instability in
crude oil prices across the country in
short the wildfires have become one of
the most expensive natural disasters in
Canadian history around 1,600 homes have
reportedly been destroyed but that
number is expected to rise significantly
when the fires are put out completely
and the full extent of the damage
becomes clear at this point while the
fires continue to rage it’s difficult to
imagine how Fort McMurray will rebuild
but residents remain defiant quote I
don’t know what’s left of it really said
one evacuate but I know it will stand
again and with cooler temperatures and
light rain in the forecast beginning
Monday May 9th 2016 and lasting a few
days the process has hopefully already
begun to those displaced please remember
we are resilient
we are Canadians and we will make it
through this most
Teru together did these facts get you
thinking the reality is the biggest
factor is the weather to vote for which
news story is covered next head over to
watchmojo.com slash suggest and be sure
to hit that subscribe button for more
newsworthy top 10s published every week
it’s a tough day for Albertans but we
will persevere thank
[Applause]
[Music]
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