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Rain helped slow the progression of a huge blaze that threatens the oil town of Fort McMurray, in western Canada, authorities said Thursday. However, the fire still remains out of control.
It has already burned nearly 21,000 hectares of forest and led to the evacuation of thousands of people in this month of May marked by drought.
The fire has not progressed since Wednesday towards Fort McMurray, said the spokesperson for the firefighters of Alberta, the main oil-producing region. He was still about 4.5 kilometers from the city on Thursday.
“Thanks to cooler temperatures and reduced winds,” firefighters were able to “make progress,” she explained, indicating that it will nevertheless take “time and work to put out a forest fire of this size », probably months. “The next few days will be very important,” said Mayor Sandy Bowman.
6,000 residents evacuated
The evacuation order targeting more than 6,000 residents should remain in place at the end of the week and could be lifted as early as next Tuesday, according to the region’s fire chief.
Tar sands mines are not immediately threatened, but production of more than 2 million barrels per day could be compromised if the situation worsens.
Oil companies such as Suncor, Canadian Natural Resources and Syncrude have not yet reported any impact on their operations near Fort McMurray, according to a memo from Rystad Energy. But some, like the multinational Imperial Oil, declared this week that they had reduced their workforce on site.
After a dramatic spring and summer of 2023, Canada fears another devastating fire season. Drought is raging in many regions and the month of May is already marked by the first violent fires and the evacuation of thousands of people in the west of the country.
Alberta is currently recording more than 40 active fires and the neighboring province of British Columbia more than 120. In the latter, greenhouse gas emissions due to fires reached a new record in May, at 15 megatons of carbon, according to the European Copernicus Observatory.
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