On May 1, 2016, a wildfire began southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. On May 3, it swept through the community, forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history, with upwards of 88,000 people forced from their homes. Firefighters were assisted by personnel from both the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as other Canadian provincial agencies, to fight the wildfire. Aid for evacuees was provided by various governments and via donations through the Canadian Red Cross and other local and national charitable organizations.
Sweeping through Fort McMurray, the wildfire destroyed approximately 2,400 homes and buildings. Another 2,000 residents in three communities were displaced after their homes were declared unsafe for reoccupation due to contamination. The fire continued to spread across northern Alberta and into Saskatchewan, consuming forested areas and impacting Athabasca oil sands operations. With an estimated damage cost of C$9.9 billion, it was the costliest disaster in Canadian history.
The fire spread across approximately before it was declared to be under control on July 5, 2016. It continued to smoulder, and was fully extinguished on August 2, 2017. It is suspected to have been caused by humans in a remote area from Fort McMurray, but no official cause has been determined to date.
Fire progression
Cause and contributing factors
The fire was first reported by a helicopter forestry crew in a remote area from Fort McMurray on May 1, 2016. First responders arrived 45 minutes later. An official cause of the fire has not been determined to date, but it was suspected to be human caused. During the start of the fire, an unusually hot, dry air mass was in place over Northern Alberta, which brought record-setting temperatures to Fort McMurray. On May 3, the temperature climbed to , accompanied by relative humidity as low as 12%. The situation intensified on May 4 when temperatures reached and winds gusted to 72 km/h (45 mph). A natural El Niño cycle also led to a dry fall and winter season along with a warm spring, leaving a paltry snowpack, which melted quickly. Combined with the high temperatures, this created a "perfect storm" of conditions for an explosive wildfire, and significantly contributed to the fire's rapid growth.
Climate change was also cited as a potential contributor to the start and spread of the fire. Debate occurred as to whether it was "insensitive" to discuss it during the crisis, or whether the crisis made it "more important" to talk about a correlation between human-influenced climate change and wildfires. Canada's politicians and scientists both cautioned that individual fires cannot specifically be linked to climate change, but agree that it is part of a general trend of more intense wildfires.
Spread to Fort McMurray
As the fire spread towards settlements in Fort McMurray, a local state of emergency was declared on May 1 at 9:57 p.m. MDT (03:57 UTC May 2) with the Centennial Trailer Park and the neighborhoods of Prairie Creek and Gregoire under a mandatory evacuation. The evacuation orders for the two neighborhoods were reduced to a voluntary stay-in-place order by the night of May 2 as the fire moved southwest and away from the area. The mandatory evacuation order was reinstated and expanded to 12 neighbourhoods on May 3 at 5:00 p.m. (23:00 UTC), and to the entirety of Fort McMurray by 6:49 p.m. (00:49 UTC May 4). A further order covering the nearby communities of Anzac, Gregoire Lake Estates, and Fort McMurray First Nation was issued at 9:50 p.m. on May 4 (03:50 UTC May 5). It has been reported that 88,000 people were successfully evacuated, with no reported fatalities or injuries, but two people, Aaron Hodgson and Emily Ryan, were killed in a vehicular collision during the evacuation, one of whom was the daughter of a firefighter. Despite the mandatory evacuation order, staff at the water treatment plant remained in Fort McMurray to provide firefighters with water.