Canada: 1/3 of Slave Lake, Alberta burned in wildfire

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ched-slave-lake-officials-say/article2023343/

Fire crews gave everything in fight to save scorched Slave Lake, officials say
JOSH WINGROVE and JILL MAHONEY
EDMONTON and TORONTO? Globe and Mail Update
Published Monday, May. 16, 2011 8:44AM EDT
Last updated Monday, May. 16, 2011 3:09PM EDT

Alberta fire officials defended their efforts to try to save Slave Lake a day after 7,000 residents were forced to flee as a powerful, fast-moving fire destroyed a wide swath of the town.

Smoke hung heavy in the air on Monday, as firefighters continued battling spot fires.

More than one-third of the town was destroyed, including hundreds of homes, churches and businesses. So too was the town hall, library and radio station...

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Canada: 1/3 of Slave Lake, Alberta burned in wildfire

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Wildfires in Alberta, Canada

Posted May 18, 2011

acquired May 16, 2011

(5 MB, JPEG) acquired May 16, 2011
(57 MB, TIFF) acquired May 16, 2011
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On May 16, 2011, tan and gray smoke spread hundreds of kilometers across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories in Canada. At 10:00 a.m., the Alberta government reported 116 fires burning in the province, 34 of them out of control. The following day, the total number of fires had dropped to 100, and the number of uncontrolled fires had dropped to 22. But four new fires had started to burn out of control.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA?s Terra satellite took this image at 12:35 p.m. local time on May 16. Similar images of central Canada are available twice daily.

The top image shows a wide area to illustrate how far the smoke traveled. The lower image provides a closer view of a massive fire burning south of Lake Athabasca. Fire detections are outlined in red. Strong winds fanned the fires on May 15 and 16, sending thick plumes of smoke to the north.

The fires forced some energy and transportation companies to suspend operations, reported CBC News. Multiple oil and gas companies suspended drilling and moved their employees to safety. Oil transport was also hampered by a shutdown of rail service and a pipeline closure. Meanwhile, fires near Lesser Slave Lake destroyed 40 percent of the nearby town on May 15, including hundreds of homes and businesses and the town hall.

On May 17, CBC News reported that British Columbia was sending 200 more firefighters, in addition to the 130 firefighters already deployed to Alberta. Fire danger remained extreme throughout much of northern Alberta on May 17, the government reported.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=50635&src=imgrss

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Canada: 1/3 of Slave Lake, Alberta burned in wildfire

Wildfires ravage northern Alberta town

By Mariam Ibrahim and Jesse Snyder and Julianna Cummins, Calgary Herald May 19, 2011 6:22 PM

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Slave Lake burned as night fell Sunday, the result of wildfires that first threatened then quickly engulfed the northern Alberta community.​

As of late Sunday evening, the town hall was on fire, as were local businesses, houses and the radio station.​

But information from the town was incomplete, since power was frequently out, cellphone coverage was intermittent and officials directed their efforts toward helping people avoid the flames.​

The town issued an evacuation order Sunday evening, but with fires threatening the highways, they urged the roughly 7,000 residents to make their way to safe spots in the town.​

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Wildfires+ravage+northern+Alberta+town/4788602/story.html#ixzz1MqhlOIVo​

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