Slave Lake, Alberta is on fire

[Canadave]

Slave Lake, a town of 7,000 people in northern Alberta (about 250 km north of Edmonton) is currently burning to the ground.

After a day of caution over two encroaching wildfires, the winds picked up and brought chaos and destruction to Slave Lake.

Wind gusts that accelerated the advance of fires and grounded water bombers Sunday afternoon allowed the fire to jump two highways. Afterwards, it was free to tear through the Alberta town of 7,000 people. A long list of hundreds of buildings have burned down – including city hall, the police station, the radio station and countless houses – and the town has brought in a mandatory evacuation. The fires appear out of control.

Meanwhile, flames still block all but one road out of town, trapping many residents in the town and leaving officials to, at first, urge people to simply flee to wide open parking lots or beaches, and hope the fire doesn’t reach them. Now, they’re being told to get out. Traffic along the one highway was slow, as residents navigated through thick smoke amid waning daylight Sunday evening.

The town was also in the middle of a communications meltdown. Cell phone service was spotty at best, the power kept going out, and the local radio station, which had been broadcasting emergency updates, lost its signal to a power outage long before it burned down.

More here

Sounds like it's pretty insane out there. I'm currently hoping that everyone has made it out okay, but the news doesn't exactly sound positive...

ETA: Video taken by someone evacuating. I recommend muting, there's a lot of wind noise.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kma8_BIo54&feature=youtu.be[/yt]

 

[DBR]

My brother lives in Slave Lake. I got a hold of him about an hour ago: he's been working in Peace River for the last week, and has no idea if he has a house to go home to.

Reminds me of 2003 fires in Kelowna. Unreal.

 

[Ghost07]

How horrible! Why does it look like some of those people in the video are going back to the town?

 

[RJDiogenes]

That's unbelievable. A whole town destroyed. Those poor people. I wonder if everyone will go back or just settle elsewhere.

 

[DeafPoet]

Holy Shit. I hope everyone's okay.

 

[Miss Chicken]

This is terrible. I hope everyone is able to get out.

One thing that I thought about when watching the video - there seems to be less smoke than would see in bad Australian bushfires. Would this be because whatever the trees are that are burning they don't produce as much smoke as eucalyptus trees? I am not saying that there isn't a lot of smoke in the video but it looks like it is being produced by the burning within the town. Did much of the surrounding forest burn before it reached the town?

 

[Amaris]

Eek! I hope everyone has made it out safely! Wow!

 

[Dream]

Where is Superman when you need him?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

One thing that I thought about when watching the video - there seems to be less smoke than would see in bad Australian bushfires. Would this be because whatever the trees are that are burning they don't produce as much smoke as eucalyptus trees?

I imagine the trees aren't nearly as flammable as Eucalyptus. Only in Australia do the trees seek to actually explode in a fire.

Sad to hear about this though. I do have a question: If every exit from the town was blocked save one, why weren't they immediately evacuating people through it? Were they just thinking "say, let's hope this one remains open?"

EDIT: Okay, I've read the attached article. Much explained. Still, the authorities' response doesn't seem particularly impressive. But I suppose it took them by surprise, if the region's not used to such things.

Here's hoping the casulaties are minimal. My sympathy for those who have lost their homes.

 

[Goliath]

Damn. I've been to Slave Lake, on a couple of occasions. I was invited to lecture at the high school, and the community college. Apparently the college is being used as a Red Cross centre, for people who couldn't get out of town.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

My brother lives in Slave Lake. I got a hold of him about an hour ago: he's been working in Peace River for the last week, and has no idea if he has a house to go home to.

I'm glad to hear he's okay.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I think some pine trees explode... I could be wrong of course...
Maybe it has something to do with the pitch...

 

[Canadave]

How horrible! Why does it look like some of those people in the video are going back to the town?

I suspect it's because the highway to the south was closed, so the evacuation route probably took them back past the town.

 

[Thestral]

Oh man, that's awful.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

My brother lives in Slave Lake. I got a hold of him about an hour ago: he's been working in Peace River for the last week, and has no idea if he has a house to go home to.

I'm glad he's OK, first of all...that's the most important part by far.

Did he have any relatives or any friends trustworthy enough to have them go get his valuables out of his house so he won't lose everything?

 

[RJDiogenes]

Have there been any reports of injuries?

 

[Locutus of Bored]

That's awful. I hope everyone got out okay.

 

[Goliath]

Have there been any reports of injuries?

I haven't heard any. Looks like everybody got out safely.

Slave Lake is just a part of this story. There are more than 100 forest fires burning in Alberta right now, including 36 that are out of control. There are so many fires that they're interfering with oil production.

No doubt the oil companies will be raising gasoline prices soon.

 

[Canadave]

^ Yeah, there's a guy I know who lives in Fort McMurray, and it sounds like the fires are becoming a big concern around there, too. It'd be a big deal if things got out-of-control up there... that's where most of the energy industry is located, and there are over 47,000 people in the city.

As for Slave Lake, there's a good article in today's Globe.

 

[marillion]

One thing that I thought about when watching the video - there seems to be less smoke than would see in bad Australian bushfires. Would this be because whatever the trees are that are burning they don't produce as much smoke as eucalyptus trees?

I imagine the trees aren't nearly as flammable as Eucalyptus. Only in Australia do the trees seek to actually explode in a fire.

Here's the latest update I could get...

Alberta Fires

When it comes to the explosiveness of trees, you tend to see somewhat less smoke when the trees are stressed and dry.. When the fuel moisture levels of vegetation is extremely low, they burn more efficiently. When they have higher levels, you get a more "dirty" smoke.

Also, different types of vegetation have different ingnition compenants. Trees such as tamerisk and eucalyptus have a chemical that is extremely flammable and they go off like an explosion. We see this along the Rio Grande every year. Tamerisk, or salt cedar as we call it here, is an invasive species that was planted a century ago to help control the flow of the river and prevent flooding. It burns incredibly hot and acts as a ladder fuel, which takes the flames up into the cottonwood trees.. My agency has been working for years on ripping out a majority of the salt cedars to help return a more natural flow to the Rio Grande and free up water for wildlife, vegetation and for irrigation needs.

Pine trees are very pitchy, of course, and that too is rather flammable, especially when the trees are dry and stressed. During ideal situations, the typical forested trees react well to fire, but when the fire gets into overly dense tree stands, it crowns and leaves behind a moonscape...

Firewise.org is a great website/program that teaches homeowners how to plant fire resistant vegetation on their property and how to create defensible space.