Fort McMurray fire grows to 423,000 hectares, continues to threaten oilsands sites

The Fort McMurray wildfire in northern Alberta iscarvinga new path of destruction, destroying an oilsands camp whileracing eastward toward more industry sites.

The fire, which has become known as "the beast,"has grownby a staggering 57,000 hectares in the last 24 hours, consuming423,000 hectares of boreal forest as of Wednesday morning.

Wildfire information officer Travis Fairweather attributesthe "pretty significant" growth to "extreme fire conditions."

"It's really being burning intensely and the winds have been carrying it," he said Wednesday.

The fire forced 8,000 non-essential workers to flee the area Monday night, and a mandatory evacuation order remains in place for all work camps north of the city.

The majority were sent by ground to work camps near Fort MacKay, about 53 kilometres to the north.But some were also bused, or later flown, south to Edmonton and Calgary.

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By Tuesday morning, the flames had made their way to the Blacksand Executive Lodge, which provides accommodations to hundreds of workers in the area.

The building's sprinkler system was no match for the raging inferno, and all 665 units of the building were consumed by the fire.

Within hours, the flames had spread east, threatening theNoraltaLodge FortMcMurrayVillage, a facility that can house more than 3,000 people,and Horizon North's Birch Mountain, a 540-unit facility.

Six kilometres away from the Blacksand Lodge, the Birch Mountain Lodge, also owned by Horizon North, remains in the path of the fire.

"We've got eight camps in a perimeter around Fort McMurray, out of seven which have been evacuated,"Rod Graham, president and CEO of Horizon North, told CBC News on Wednesday.

"We have not sent any of our people into harm's way, but from unconfirmed reports we've had, our Birch property is still standing."

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The wind was also expected to push the fire towards the Suncor and Syncrude oilsands facilities, but the province said both are highly resilient to fire.

Each site issurrounded by wide barriersof cleared firebreak and graveland are guarded by their ownfirefightingcrews. However, only essential personnel remain at both plants.

Crews in the area continue to work around the clock to douse the flamesand create firebreaks around critical infrastructure, but the fire has become increasingly volatileamid high winds and tinder-dry conditions.

"Over the last 48 hours it has certainly grown significantly, particularly along the eastern edge, growing toward the Saskatchewan border, but also growing north toward the oilsands facilities," said Bruce Macnab, with theNorthern Forestry Centre in Edmonton.

"In these kind of conditions, the fire crews will be doing their best to fight the sides of the fire when conditions allow, but that's very much weather dependent."

By noon Wednesday, the eastern front of the fire appeared to be stalled about five kilometresfrom the Saskatchewan border. The government there has established a wildfire base camp in the small community ofBuffalo Narrows to use air tankers and helicopters along the eastern edge of the massive fire.

But Duane McKay, Saskatchewan'scommissioner of emergency and fire safety,said smoke is the biggest concern for residents of the nearest community, La Loche, which is about 20 kilometresfrom the border.

The fire itself poses no current threatto the town or any other Saskatchewan communities, McKay said.

He said the wind is expected to shift directions later today and could blow the fire back on itself.

"We don't anticipate it crossing the border in the near future," he said. But he cautioned that the fire "obviously has a mind of its own in terms of where it wants to go."

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