Thousands flee western Canada's raging wildfires

A helicopter flies past a wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta, as crews held back wind-whipped wildfires that have already torched homes and other buildings in Canada's main oil sands city of Fort McMurray, forcing thousands of residents to flee. (Photo source: Jason Franson /The Canadian Press via AP)

LAC LA BICHE, Canada: Residents fleeing a voracious wildfire in western Canada's Fort McMurray thronged a tiny hamlet several hours away on Thursday (May 5) as firefighters battled to contain the raging blaze consuming a huge section of Alberta's oil sands region.

By the thousands, evacuees are arriving in Lac La Biche after making a chaotic escape from the epicenter of the inferno that has claimed two lives and destroyed entire neighborhoods of the oil city of Fort McMurray and its outskirts.

So far about 100,000 people have fled the path of the monster blaze some have dubbed "the beast."

Map of Alberta, Canada locating Fort McMurray, where tens of thousands of residents have been ordered to evacuate over wildfire. (AFP/Gal Roma, Adrian Leung, John Saeki)

"There's no guide on how to get out of a forest fire," evacuee Alan Javierto told AFP in Lac La Biche, about 300 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, where many recounted a hurried, frightening escape as homes and businesses were reduced to cinders.

Television footage showed trees ablaze right on the edge of highways crowded with bumper-to-bumper traffic trying to leave the disaster zone, as billowing black smoke darkened the sky.

The government has declared a state of emergency in Alberta, a province the size of France that is home to one of the world's most prodigious oil-producing industries.

"The footage we've seen, the cars racing down highways while fire rages on all sides is nothing short of terrifying," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told lawmakers in Ottawa.

Trudeau's government has pledged to match one dollar for each dollar donated by the public to the Red Cross, which is providing aid to those in need.

BONE-DRY

Authorities have been battling the blaze with air tankers, helicopters and hundreds of firefighters, even as high winds have continued to whip up and spread the flames.

The flight from Fort McMurray began in earnest shortly before midnight Tuesday after a mandatory evacuation order in the city.

Late Wednesday fires forced the evacuation of Saprae Creek, a neighborhood east of the city's airport where even firefighters were forced to pull out.

Oil companies crucial to the region such as Suncor, Syncrude and Shell are also pulling out non-essential employees, and several firms have set up emergency shelters in their huge bungalow worker communities.

The fire has already destroyed some 2,000 homes on the outskirts of Fort McMurray, consuming 10,000 hectares, authorities said. The region has been left bone-dry after a period of unusually scant rainfall and unseasonably high temperatures.

One lawmaker, Rona Ambrose, who represents the affected region, wept as she vowed in parliament that Alberta will recover from the disaster.

"Fort McMurray is a place where Canadians have come from all across this country. It's a tough day for Albertans but we will persevere" she said through tears.

BLACKENED CARCASSES

Massive traffic snarls have formed around gas stations as drivers waited hours to fill their tanks.

With some pumps already empty in the 400 kilometres between Fort McMurray and Edmonton to the south, the Alberta government sent a tanker under guard to help rescue stranded vehicles.

The fire, which until Monday had been contained south of the oil city, was pushed towards it by winds of 50 kilometres per hour and quickly reached homes.

One particularly hard hit area was the Beacon Hill neighborhood some five kilometres from downtown Fort McMurray, where 70 per cent of homes were in ruins. Even harder hit was the Waterways neighbourhood, where nine in 10 homes have been reduced to charred remains.

Television footage showed the smoldering remains of a large motor home park, and the blackened carcasses of cars consumed by the flames.

Public Security Minister Ralph Goodale, called the fire "terrifying."

"It's heartbreaking and I think it just drives home the crucial point about how we all need to rally and support here, work well together, do everything that is humanly possible to rescue people in this kind of mortal danger and make sure that 'the beast' can be brought under control as rapidly as possible," Goodale said.

"This kind of disaster will not be solved in a day or two, a week or two, or a month or two. We're all going to have to be here for the long haul."