Fort Mac Wildfire Thread

[Baron von Kriterium]

Re military assistance:

At this time, Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) and a C-17 w/MAMS on stand-by.

MAMS is Mobile Air Movements Squadron. These would be the guys loading/unloading the cargoes.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Does anyone have a good understanding of the extent of damage? I'm getting confused by the way that the media is portraying it.

I'm hearing stuff ranging from 80% of Fort Mac is gone (I think some people are being sensationalist), to 80% of Beacon Hill and Wood Buffalo... but I can't wrap my mind around what that actually means and which report is correct.

Sorry if wrong place to ask.

No its a good place to ask, because the story is very confusing right now.

From what I understand Fort Mac hasn't taken any major damage, the fire fighters have done a amazing job. I did hear that Beacon Hill was pretty much wiped off of the map with over 80% of its structures gone.

Here's a link to the latest I could find

https://twitter.com/RMWoodBuffalo/st..._src=twsrc^tfw

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by icecube

At least I have one person on my side.

Seriously Shut up.

[Leeman4Gilmour]

I'm struggling to find a good source of information for highway 63 all directions. If anyone can post a link, I'd appreciate it.

My goal is to get people who are south of the city north to the airport, but I'm hearing northbound 63 is closed at 881, thus no way to get to the airport.

[CaptainCrunch]

I would think that the big concern is going to be fire fighter fatique.

These guys are going hard in hell.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Does anyone have a good understanding of the extent of damage? I'm getting confused by the way that the media is portraying it.

I'm hearing stuff ranging from 80% of Fort Mac is gone (I think some people are being sensationalist), to 80% of Beacon Hill and Wood Buffalo... but I can't wrap my mind around what that actually means and which report is correct.

Sorry if wrong place to ask.

This might help a bit:

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Leeman4Gilmour

I'm struggling to find a good source of information for highway 63 all directions. If anyone can post a link, I'd appreciate it.

My goal is to get people who are south of the city north to the airport, but I'm hearing northbound 63 is closed at 881, thus no way to get to the airport.

Best i could find

https://twitter.com/search?q=highway...rp|twgr^search

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by icecube

At least I have one person on my side.

If this continues at all - we will start suspending people

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Does anyone have a good understanding of the extent of damage? I'm getting confused by the way that the media is portraying it.

I'm hearing stuff ranging from 80% of Fort Mac is gone (I think some people are being sensationalist), to 80% of Beacon Hill and Wood Buffalo... but I can't wrap my mind around what that actually means and which report is correct.

Sorry if wrong place to ask.

I saw this interactive map which was updated as of 4AM. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...2BivU&hl=en_US

For some reason the area names are missing now. But 80% of the homes in Beacon Hill, 60% in Abasand and Waterways and 40% in Wood Buffalo.

[EverfresH15]

Originally Posted by Leeman4Gilmour

I'm struggling to find a good source of information for highway 63 all directions. If anyone can post a link, I'd appreciate it.

My goal is to get people who are south of the city north to the airport, but I'm hearing northbound 63 is closed at 881, thus no way to get to the airport.

Yeah you aren't getting to the airport. Some traffic is going north but Its more truckers and what not.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Leeman4Gilmour

I'm struggling to find a good source of information for highway 63 all directions. If anyone can post a link, I'd appreciate it.

My goal is to get people who are south of the city north to the airport, but I'm hearing northbound 63 is closed at 881, thus no way to get to the airport.

Check 511?
https://twitter.com/511Alberta?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^a uthor
http://511.alberta.ca/

Not sure if that is enough detail for you...

[Baron von Kriterium]

Originally Posted by Baron von Kriterium

Re military assistance:

At this time, Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) and a C-17 w/MAMS on stand-by.

MAMS is Mobile Air Movements Squadron. These would be the guys loading/unloading the cargoes.

I should further add that, while the Federal government received the request for assistance, the actual requirement (pers and eqpt) hasn't yet been defined (to my knowledge) by the Alberta government.

[Azure]

Last night it seemed like the whole city was in danger and there was no way of stopping it. This morning all fires have been extinguished.

That is what you call one hell of a job by the emergency crews.

[Bigtime]

Info on flights into the area from a YYC Terminal Controller:

As of right now Calgary has 18 flight plans in the system today into the oilsands. That's capacity to evacuate roughly 2000 ppl.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Family will be reunited soon. Parents left Albian Sands early and were one of the first to be allowed travel South through the city. Described the scenes as unbelievable and surreal. Brother and his wife will obviously be relieved once they can hold their two children again.

Might have some house guests for an extended period here, but that's okay.

[habernac]

Just read an update from a friend that the highway south is closed again. Ugh.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

This might help a bit:

Sounds like that whole area at the top of the hill there (McDonalds area) is toast.

[habernac]

I'm still amazed that Grayling Terrace wasn't totally obliterated.

[Frequitude]

Can anyone give any clarity on military assistance? I'm seeing conflicting reports around the word "called in". This article seems to be ambiguous.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2679360/fo...ill-they-help/

As the city of Fort McMurray stood nearly empty and burning on Wednesday morning, Canada’s defence minister confirmed that the military has been called in and is preparing to help in whatever way it can.

That makes it sound like they've actually been called in.

If support is needed before an official request comes in from the province or territory and is approved by Ottawa, the forces launch what’s called “a rapid response operation,” or RRO.
Fort McMurray wildfire: Map of neighbourhoods affected
This only happens when waiting for formal approval would result in loss of life or human suffering.
In the case of an RRO, a local commander can essentially bypass the chain of command, launching an immediate response and issuing orders to local units. It’s unclear if any RROs had been initiated in response to the Alberta fires by Wednesday morning.
Global News confirmed Tuesday evening, however, that military personnel in the region had already received notice that they should be ready to deploy.

This makes it sound like the military has called their own people to be ready to go but that an official request from the province hasn't happened yet.


If the latter, why the **** has the military not been called in yet?!?!?

[DoubleF]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...nton-1.3565573

Looks like the pic Fuzz posted is updated: