Hasty Exit

Image Source: Canada News.

If anything symbolized the current worldwide fortunes of the oil industry, it might be that for the past three days, Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada's centre of oil production, has been burning. The oil sands are just north and south of the city. A wildfire, possibly human-started, possibly started by lightning, has engulfed the city and almost 90,000 people have fled on the one highway out of town. In two days, one third of Canada's oil production has stopped, removing one million barrels of oil per day from the market; this has created fears about a global oil shortage and prices have jumped. In the video below, 'Hasty Exit,' Jared Sabovitch awoke from a night shift around 2:30 p.m., having heard or received no order to evacuate, he looked out his window, and saw patches of fire on his lawn. Then he looked behind the house and saw a wall of fire engulfing his neighbourhood. He left his house in minutes. You have all the time in the world, but all it takes is one bad afternoon, and then you have no time left at all.

Image Source: Edmonton Journal.

On 3 May 2016, the fire jumped the only highway in the space of five minutes. Video Source: Global News via Youtube.

Rear Dashcam video: resident fleeing the city, Beacon Hill area, 4 May 2016. Video Source: Youtube.

Front Dashcam video: resident fleeing the city, Beacon Hill area, 4 May 2016 in mid-afternoon. Video Source: Youtube. More dashcam videos from the same driver are here.

Dashcam video: residents fleeing the city 4 May 2016. Video Source: Youtube.

Dashcam video: residents fleeing the city 4 May 2016. Video Source: Youtube.

'Hasty Exit': the fire in the city on 4 May 2016. Video Source: Jared Sabovitch via Youtube.

ABC News report on 4 May 2016. Video Source: ABC News.

BBC news report on 5 May 2016. Video Source: BBC.

ADDENDUM (6 May 2016) Live webcams are monitoring the city here. There are before and after pictures of fire-hit neighbourhoods here. Parts of the city are still intact.

Home owner James O'Reilly watched his home burn down on his iPhone via his security camera, twenty minutes after he left it. Below, the long and time lapse versions.





See my post on last year's Valley Fire in California, here.