Hardworking crews, rain keeps fire out of Fort McMurray

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Fort McMurray – Every day since the wildfires began to threaten the city of Fort McMurray, tough, exhausted firefighters have been pouring out of helicopters at the end of one of the toughest shifts around.

Heavy, manual labor?

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“Yes,” said Gavin Hojka, incident commander in charge of 172 wildland firefighters. “Very.”

Thanks to the cool, wet weather and the hard work of the crews, the fire, which has not grown, has no way to the front line.

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Teams of eight to 20-year-olds drop in early each morning in helicopters. They walk into the flames with pumps, chains, shovels, axes, and hoses—lots and lots of hoses.

“They bring in dozens of boxes of hoses a day,” Hojka said.

“Every day we are putting out more hoses. There are thousands and thousands of feet of hose.”

Each box of hose weighs about 27 kg. The pumps that fill them weigh about 30 kilograms and are carried on someone's back to the nearest beaver pond, stream or river.

With water and hand tools, they attack the fire for 12-14 hours, feeding only on packed lunches. Then the helicopter comes to pick them up so they can rest a bit before they return.

“We're going to do everything we can to get them home at night,” Hojka said. “We'll make sure we have someone flying in a helicopter as an eye in the sky and watching.”

As of Friday, the fire was still out of control and beyond the reach of nearly 6,600 homes in four districts of the oil sands hub.

It is one of several fires that have forced the evacuation of communities in Western Canada.

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Fort Nelson, BC, a town of 4,700, was evacuated a week ago. Recent videos posted on social media show several destroyed houses outside the community.

BC Emergency Management Minister Bovinn Ma said the province's worst fears about the fires have not come true, but the region is not yet “out of the woods.”

In northwest Manitoba, there was good news for the 675 residents who were displaced in and around Cranberry Portage last weekend.

The provincial fire service said the fire was under control and the weather was cooperating, so residents would be allowed to return on Sunday. He said some property was damaged.

Back in Fort McMurray, some of the four neighborhoods evacuated Tuesday looked deserted, with trash cans neatly lined up in driveways next to cars, trucks and all-terrain vehicles. The only people around were police, emergency workers and birds.

At Grayling Terrace, crews installed sprinklers that spray 600 liters of water per minute on trees and bushes near the house.

In Beacon Hill, young poplars near homes were sprayed with fire retardant orange, part of the 168,000 liters of phosphate-based chemical sprayed on the city.

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The rest of the city's 68,000 residents are under evacuation alert and may be forced to leave at short notice.

The fire is about 200 square kilometers in size and about six kilometers from the southern edge of the city. About 10 millimeters of rain fell in the region on Thursday night, with more expected over the long weekend.

Despite favorable weather, evacuees were not allowed to return until at least Tuesday.

Wood Buffalo Regional Municipality Fire Chief Jody Butz said officials are developing a plan to welcome evacuees when it is safe to do so.

Residents of other neighborhoods who are not under evacuation orders and who left voluntarily will be allowed to return at any time, Mayor Sandy Bowman said.

“People are going to work, businesses are open, traffic is flowing,” he said.

He said officials learned a valuable lesson eight years ago when they began burning parts of Fort McMurray while everyone fled for safety. This fire destroyed more than 2400 houses.

“The important lesson of 2016 is that we can't fight fires and evacuate areas at the same time,” Bowman said.

“We are better prepared this time and ready to protect your community. If we welcome you home, we will accept it.”

This Canadian Press report was first published on May 17, 2024.

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