Fort McMurray Wildfire 2016

Question 1

Causes

Answer 1

Suspected to be Human Caused
An unusually hot, dry air mass was above starting point of fire May 4th
Temperature climbed to 32.8C
Winds of up to 45mph
High Temps and Winds created ‘Perfect Fire’

Question 2

Primary Impacts

Answer 2

Local State of Emergency Declared May 1st
Mandatory Evacuation Orders for 2 Neighbourhoods May 3rd
88,000 people successfully evacuated May 4th
1600 buildings destroyed by fire May 4th
10,000 hectares of land burned May 4th

Question 3

Secondary Impacts

Answer 3

Continual spreading across 85,000 hectares May 5th - 504,000 hectares May 21st
Forced additional evacuations
Fort McKay which hosted evacuees originally had to evacuate also due to continued spreading
Only by mid June-early July, wear rain started to help, was fire declared under control

Question 4

Response

Answer 4

Evacuations
Early state of emergency call
Helicopter assistance
300 firefighters sent at end of May
Ongoing aid throughout including shelter, food and water, rehoming, continual information and educational updates
Managed poorly - couldn’t control fire and was difficult to tell how far it was going to keep spreading - poor predictions on evacuation areas
Climate and weather massively played into fire which are uncontrollable aspects