Alberta wildfires

This item appears on page 15 of the July 2016 issue.

A series of wildfires, which began in early May in the oil sands area of northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, western-central Canada, had burned almost 2,300 square miles of forest as of press time, forcing more than 90,000 people living in and around the city of Fort McMurray to evacuate their homes. The fires destroyed at least 2,000 buildings in the city. Some residents were allowed to return beginning on June 1 as utilities were restored.

Officials stated it could take months to contain the fires. More than 2,000 firefighters were on site.