The Alberta Wildfire Flashcards
When was the Alberta Wildfire?
May 2016
How many people were evacuated?
90,000 residents of the city of Fort McMurray and more across the Canadian’s Alberta Province
How many homes/businesses were destroyed?
2,400
How much land was burnt?
600,000 Hectares
What caused the spread of the wildfire to be erratic?
A shift in wind direction caused the under control wildfire to tear into the outskirts of Fort McMurray.
The effect of “spotting” where wind-carried embers ignited new fires well ahead of the actual fire front
Example of ‘Spotting’
Wind-carried embers jumped a 1km river which spread the fire even further
What was remarkable given the nature of the wildfire?
Nobody was killed and 85% of the city was saved.
What environmental conditions increased the likelihood of the wildfire?
A lack of winter snowfall and an early snow melt.
Warmer temperatures dried the ground.
In April soaring temperatures and low humidity created tinder dry vegetation.
How did the conditions change in the first few days?
Temperatures rose further, exceeding 30 degrees C.
Also winds increased which helped spread the fire faster.
What rare positive feedback mechanism increased the intensity of the fire?
The intensity of the fire created its own weather patterns such as lightning which ignited additional fires in the area
Which climate effect impacted these environmental conditions?
A strong El Nino effect may have caused the unusually hot and dry early spring conditions
What were the environmental impacts?
Impacted the boreal forest ecosystem due to scorched soil and tree roots.
Scorched peaty soils could ignite at any time.
Several million tonnes of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
Toxins from burning trees and buildings such as mercury and lead created air pollution as far away as the USA.
Ash washed into water courses after heavy rain leads to water pollution and possible contamination of aquatic wildlife.
Huge quantities of waste and debris had to be disposed of.
What were the social impacts?
90,000 people forced to flee Fort McMurray.
2,400 homes and other buildings burnt down.
Jobs, livelihoods and movement in the area was affected.
Increased anxiety about the future with some suggesting climate change may make these events more frequent.
Disruption to power supplies.
Water supplies became contaminated as fire fighters had to use untreated water to prevent further spread.
What were the economic impacts?
CAN$9 billion of damage.
About 1/3 of the 25,000 workers in the nearby oil sands industry had to be evacuated with production halting .
600 work camps destroyed and cost the industry CAN$1 billion.
Transport in the region was seriously affected including at the nearby international airport.
What were the political impacts?
Fuelled political debates about future climate change and longer fire seasons.
Government officials had to oversee evacuation programmes and liaise with emergency services.
The Alberta government had to oversee a phased and safe re-entry.
Reconstruction programmes for buildings, services and infrastructure had to be coordinated.
