Ft. McMurray Fire 40 Miles X 10, 3 Miles From Athabasca Tar Sands Site, Convoys Fail 2X
The Fort McMurray Fire is now so vast that it has both burned through and completely surrounded the city, its airport, and the neighboring community of Anzac 31 miles to the south. Spinning out blazes in a long tail across the green forested land of Canada, the fire now appears to cover about 40 miles of distance and 10 miles of width at its longest and widest points. A secondary fire to the northeast of the main blaze also appears to have lit off.
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(Fort McMurray Fire as seen from above in the May 6 NASA/LANCE MODIS satellite shot. This huge fire now covers an approximate 10×40 mile swath of land, is throwing off numerous pyrocumulous clouds, and has spawned a secondary large fire to the northeast. In the upper left hand corner of the image above we see the bald landscapes of tar sands facilities. Smoke plume analysis indicates that the northern extent of this monstrous fire is just 3 miles to the south of the nearest tar sands facility. For purposes of scale, bottom edge of frame is 60 miles. Image source: LANCE-MODIS.)
Viewing the massive scope and extent of the blaze, one can see why an evacuation convoy of 1,500 vehicles — composed of members of the fire response team and a number of stranded evacuees — was unable to flee the region earlier on Friday. BBC News reports indicated that the convoy encountered walls of flames 200 feet high and was forced to turn back to a city that finds itself surrounded with walls of flame on every side. This was the second time in two days that an evacuation convoy attempted to leave the fire zone and the second time that all ways out were found to be blocked by the fires. Hundreds of people remain stranded in the fire zone and officials say it will take four days to move them once a clear pathway out is found (UPDATE 2:04 AM: RCMP reported late Friday that a third convoy of 2500 vehicles finally made its way south away from the fire zone. About three more days will be required to move the rest of the evacuees, according to RCMP statements. For more information on how to help those displaced by the fire look here.).
GFS model forecasts indicate that temperatures will rise into the mid 80s tomorrow. Yet another day of record hot readings for a climate change baked Canada. Winds are predicted to shift toward the south. And very dry conditions will continue to worsen the already extreme levels of fire danger. With the fire now burning just 3 miles south of the Athabasca oil production facility — a section of the tar sands that was evacuated yesterday due to fire encroachment — it appears that these winds will likely drive the fire toward and, possibly, into that industrial section.
Over the past few days, this fire has shown an ability to move very rapidly — covering many of miles of ground in just a short period. Trees surrounding the barren strip mines of the tar sands facilities provide abundant fuel for these fires and volatile chemicals produced in the facilities add an additional hazard. The tar sands soil is laced with bitumen — which is not typically concentrated enough to burn. However, the extreme heat of these fires may cause some of the more concentrated zones to smolder — adding to potential fuels and fire hotspots.
EDIT
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/05/06/shift-in-the-wind-may-push-gargantuan-fort-mcmurray-fire-toward-tar-sands-facilities-on-saturday/
= new reply since forum marked as read
That's nuclear warhead territory there!
is a must-read. The comments, too. I learn so much from him.
Thanks, hatrack. 
