A large forest fire is burning southwest of Fort McMurray and strong winds are causing the fire to creep closer to the municipality, threatening some people living in nearby areas.
The fire was first reported on Sun., May 1 and is an estimated 120 ha in size. The mayor of Fort McMurray has declared a state of local emergency and a mandatory evacuation has been ordered for residents in Centennial Park, south of Airport Road.
Due to changing fire conditions, the mandatory evacuation notice for Gregoire is reduced to a voluntary shelter in place notice for the residential area located east of Gregoire Drive/Mackenzie Boulevard and north of Mackay Crescent/Maclean Road.
A special air quality statement has been issued for several areas in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo because the smoke from the wildfire is producing poor air quality and reduced visibility in some areas. Hot and dry weather conditions are forecasted through this week. Winds will remain from a westerly direction into Wednesday and high levels of particulate matter may persist locally until the fire is extinguished or controlled.
By 1 a.m. on May 2 the forest fire was burning just 1.2 kilometres west of Hwy. 63 and Airport Road. An update is expected Monday morning as officials hold a media briefing at 11 a.m. Widespread power outages have been reported due to the wildfires, but crews are working steadily to restore services to customers.
A client photo from Clearwater Horse Club in Fort McMurray, yesterday during the evacuation. All are safe #ymm pic.twitter.com/JPVykeBYO4
— EquiSportsTherapy (@EquiSportsThrpy) May 2, 2016
Reminder: DO NOT OPERATE DRONES NEAR FIRES.#ymm #wildfires pic.twitter.com/QwOdFOPdLY
— Coast Emergency (@CoastEmergency) May 2, 2016
Our Sheriffs are out assisting with wildfires in #ymm. For updates follow: https://t.co/k5njkLOEpI pic.twitter.com/s7QXXna2fJ
— Alberta Sheriffs (@AlbertaSheriffs) May 2, 2016
A photo from Highway 63 Reports on Facebook that puts everything into focus about how serious this is. #YMM pic.twitter.com/SnLeTww2mL
— Russell Thomas (@rvthomas67) May 2, 2016
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