FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta — Canadian officials will start moving thousands of people from work camps north of devastated Fort McMurray in a mass highway convoy Friday morning if it is safe from a giant wildfire raging in Alberta.
Officials airlifted 8,000 people on Thursday and will continue the airlift Friday, while a mass migration of cars will move south in the morning.
The Alberta provincial government, which declared a state of emergency, said more than 1,100 firefighters, 145 helicopters, 138 pieces of heavy equipment and 22 air tankers were fighting the over -210,000-acre fire, but Chad Morrison, Alberta’s manager of wildfire prevention, said rain is needed.
“Let me be clear: Air tankers are not going to stop this fire,” he said. “It is going to continue to push through these dry conditions until we actually get some significant rain.”
The fire continued to grow, but it is moving away from Fort McMurray and the rate of its growth has slowed. No rain clouds were expected around Fort McMurray until late Saturday, with 40 percent chance of showers, according to forecasts by Environment Canada.
More than 80,000 people have emptied Fort McMurray in the heart of Canada’s oil sands, authorities said.
About 25,000 evacuees moved north in the hours after Tuesday’s mandatory evacuation, where oil-sands work camps were converted to house people. But the bulk of the evacuees fled south to Edmonton and elsewhere, and officials are moving everyone south, where they can get better support services.
A helicopter will lead the evacuation convoy Friday morning to make sure the highway is safe.
It will pass through Fort McMurray, where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the first convoy will be 400 vehicles, and officials will see how that goes.
Historic wildfires
Colorado’s most destructive fires
Black Forest Colorado Springs, 2013 | 511 homes
Waldo Canyon Colorado Springs, 2012 | 347 homes
High Park Larimer County, 2012 | 256 homes
Fourmile Canyon 2010 | 169 homes
Hayman 2002 | 133 homes and 466 outbuildings
Colorado’s largest fires
Hayman 2002 | 137,760 acres
West Fork Complex 2013 | 109,949 acres
High Park Larimer County, 2012 | 87,250 acres
Missionary Ridge Durango | 71,739 acres
Top California fires
Cedar Near San Diego, 2003 273,246 acres and 2,820 structures
Rush 2012 | 271,911 acres but just one outbuilding
Rim 2013 | 257,314 acres and 14 structures
