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Fort McMurray is on fire

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J.D.
Posts: 21362 - Karma: 5,142
Fort McMurray, AB has been burning for over a day now. Some of the pictures and videos make it look like the apocalpyse, or maybe a live version of Fallout.








May 4 2016 10:46PM
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MF_GOON
Posts: 179 - Karma: 1,331
well, shit
May 4 2016 10:52PM
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J.D.
Posts: 21362 - Karma: 5,142
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/827401/RAW--Fort-McMurray-destruction
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/827402/Evacuees-flee-Fort-McMurray-wildfire
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/827403/Man-makes-narrow-escape-from-Fort-McMurray-fire-as-it-closes-in-on-his-home
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/827404/Fort-McMurray-fire-chief-speaks-through-tears
May 4 2016 10:54PM
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Dddsz
Posts: 3042 - Karma: 7,324
That's not what you want
May 4 2016 11:06PM
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erikK
Posts: 3245 - Karma: 2,328
Just what AB's economy needs right now... Fort Mac in flames and Justin Trudeau as PM
May 4 2016 11:08PM
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corona
Posts: 12795 - Karma: 32,750
such a shitty situation. on the bright side, there are enough out of work oil sands workers to make quick work of rebuilding.

also maybe it's happening and we're not hearing about it, but couldn't the oil companies lend some of their massive bulldozers and other excavating tools and make a huge barren buffer zone between the fire and the as of yet unburnt part of town? there's enough equipment and operators around for it to not take long at all.
May 4 2016 11:09PM
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Rennis_Deynolds
Posts: 2739 - Karma: 19,058
mixtape joke
May 4 2016 11:13PM
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californiagrown
Posts: 9794 - Karma: 2,014
VinnieFsu on the bright side, there are enough out of work oil sands workers to make quick work of rebuilding.


[/quote]

Pretty much this. Contractors are going to make a fucking killing off the insurance money.
May 4 2016 11:15PM
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M.M
Posts: 1696 - Karma: 4,494
erikKJust what AB's economy needs right now... Fort Mac in flames and Justin Trudeau as PM


Have fun with trump ;)
May 4 2016 11:23PM
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M.M
Posts: 1696 - Karma: 4,494
M.MHave fun with trump ;)


Nvm you a fellow polar bear rider eh
May 4 2016 11:24PM
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Stadtski
Posts: 972 - Karma: 3,349
the sad reality of our time is as climates get more variable as the globe warms, shit like this is going to happen a lot more.
May 4 2016 11:30PM
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MitchT
Posts: 560 - Karma: 4,095
erikKJust what AB's economy needs right now... Fort Mac in flames and Justin Trudeau as PM


Haha forget federal, they have an NDP premier who cut funding towards fire-fighting, they must be coming under a lot of heat right now
May 4 2016 11:37PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51642 - Karma: 162,187
Pretty intense
May 4 2016 11:59PM
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Static
Posts: 8553 - Karma: 4,089
man, for a second I thought rapper Jon Jame's house was on fire
May 5 2016 12:29AM
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erikK
Posts: 3245 - Karma: 2,328
VinnieFalso maybe it's happening and we're not hearing about it, but couldn't the oil companies lend some of their massive bulldozers and other excavating tools and make a huge barren buffer zone between the fire and the as of yet unburnt part of town? there's enough equipment and operators around for it to not take long at all.


Contrary to popular opinion, the oil sands aren't actually located in Fort Mac. First time I flew into the airport there I was like ....Where the fuck is everything? Was expecting Mordor, but all I see is a city in the trees and a little ski hill.

Takes a lot to transport that equipment from the operations to the town is the point I'm trying to get at
May 5 2016 12:45AM
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miroz
Posts: 10333 - Karma: 3,945
Yikes.
May 5 2016 3:47AM
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miroz
Posts: 10333 - Karma: 3,945
Double post, don't care.

The video of that dude leaving his house for what he knows will be the last time is crazy. That's pretty fucking heavy.
May 5 2016 3:48AM
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ascent_studios
Posts: 2157 - Karma: 4,580
mirozDouble post, don't care.

The video of that dude leaving his house for what he knows will be the last time is crazy. That's pretty fucking heavy.


The women really hit me when I saw that video

They lost everything
everything...
May 5 2016 7:40AM
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corona
Posts: 12795 - Karma: 32,750
erikKContrary to popular opinion, the oil sands aren't actually located in Fort Mac. First time I flew into the airport there I was like ....Where the fuck is everything? Was expecting Mordor, but all I see is a city in the trees and a little ski hill.

Takes a lot to transport that equipment from the operations to the town is the point I'm trying to get at


I get that the sands aren't right in town, but I would expect there to be storage facilities and such which, especially these days, would be full of equipment.
May 5 2016 8:01AM
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corona
Posts: 12795 - Karma: 32,750
MitchThatcherHaha forget federal, they have an NDP premier who cut funding towards fire-fighting, they must be coming under a lot of heat right now


The cuts were only done a couple weeks ago and from what I gather wouldn't be in effect until the current contracts run out at the end of the summer. So they have no impact on current firefighting efforts. They'll probably also reverse the cuts since after this is done it would be an easy crowd pleaser.
May 5 2016 8:09AM
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BushDid9-11
Posts: 134 - Karma: 588
This guy in my class has some friends from Fort Mac staying with him for about a week now. They showed up before the fire started, and woke up yesterday to see their house had burnt. That was pretty fucked up.
May 5 2016 8:40AM
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Slush
Posts: 1914 - Karma: 12,942
Those pictures are insane holy shit
May 5 2016 8:46AM
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corona
Posts: 12795 - Karma: 32,750
How far is Cold Lake? I heard the military will be there in 2 days. The gears move awfully slow.
May 5 2016 9:21AM
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Connor_Sullivan
Posts: 479 - Karma: 1,686
VinnieFHow far is Cold Lake? I heard the military will be there in 2 days. The gears move awfully slow.


You would think a National Guard response would be 24 hours or less, sucks that its so slow
May 5 2016 9:25AM
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mhuddy_22
Posts: 313 - Karma: 766
Brothers house burnt down.... He's a pilot so hopefully the hangar and planes make it.
May 5 2016 9:50AM
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arnie_grape
Posts: 3451 - Karma: 11,678
MitchThatcherthey must be coming under a lot of heat right now


ba dum tsssss
May 5 2016 11:24AM
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Peter.
Posts: 23796 - Karma: 13,014
i heard about the fires but these are the first pictures i'm seeing. wow, hope everyone got out in time. i can't even imagine my house and whole town just burning down
May 5 2016 11:40AM
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dyer
Posts: 619 - Karma: 964
Global warming
May 5 2016 11:59AM
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Dddsz
Posts: 3042 - Karma: 7,324
Just watched those videos... I can't imagine how devastating that would be.

And yet we still bitch and complain about the temperature in the house, too much rain, too much sun, I can't keep track of all of my expensive things, school is too hard... Just appreciate your lives people. This shit could happen to any of us anytime. We could all be killed tomorrow.
May 5 2016 12:10PM
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J.D.
Posts: 21362 - Karma: 5,142
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/827425/-----vacuation-de-Fort-McMurray---Michel-Chamberland

Whoa. That gets absolutely nuts halfway through.
May 5 2016 12:43PM
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MNSkiers
Posts: 1154 - Karma: 7,533
J.D.https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/827425/-----vacuation-de-Fort-McMurray---Michel-Chamberland

Whoa. That gets absolutely nuts halfway through.

It looks like a fucking volcano erupted
May 5 2016 12:55PM
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TACO-DOG.exe
Posts: 11988 - Karma: 12,261
my sister was evacuated and it's very likely that her house burnt down. at least she was renting a fully furnished condo.

damages are estimated to be upwards of 9 billion dollars.

right now the fire has affected about 85,000 hectares which is a little bigger than calgary.

yeah it's a pretty fucked up situation.
May 5 2016 1:35PM
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Randy_Quench
Posts: 5447 - Karma: 4,343
Threads.

Can't imagine what it must feel like to watch your home, and entire city, burn to the ground and know there's nothing you can do about it.
May 5 2016 1:56PM
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J.D.
Posts: 21362 - Karma: 5,142
May 5 2016 4:02PM
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MitchT
Posts: 560 - Karma: 4,095
VinnieFThe cuts were only done a couple weeks ago and from what I gather wouldn't be in effect until the current contracts run out at the end of the summer. So they have no impact on current firefighting efforts. They'll probably also reverse the cuts since after this is done it would be an easy crowd pleaser.

Oh I didn't know that. I would agree that it would be smart to reverse the decision, it seems that many people (especially oil + other resource workers) as well as a ton of other Albertans are displeased with the NDP.
GORILLAWALLACEba dum tsssss

Yes! I was hoping someone would catch that haha
May 5 2016 6:28PM
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brend
Posts: 779 - Karma: 3,608
Sad to think that this was probably started by some asshole throwing away a cigarette or something.
May 5 2016 6:42PM
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MadFlavor
Posts: 60 - Karma: 93
Dear Canada,

Put out the fire you dumb fucks.

Thanks,

American
May 5 2016 8:40PM
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FUUUCK
Posts: 18426 - Karma: 4,888
J.D.https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/827425/-----vacuation-de-Fort-McMurray---Michel-Chamberland

Whoa. That gets absolutely nuts halfway through.


My old street in Beacon Hill, that's the most stressful timelapse of my life :(
May 5 2016 9:42PM
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FUUUCK
Posts: 18426 - Karma: 4,888
MadFlavorDear Canada,

Put out the fire you dumb fucks.

Thanks,

American


A crown fire that's burnt an area the size of Los Angeles with barely any roads to move firefighting equipment, moving at speeds up to 10km an hour (faster than you can run) with no real way of predicting where it will turn next.

Yeah we'll just put it out.

Thanks for the timely advice bud.
May 5 2016 9:51PM
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Rusticles
Posts: 2180 - Karma: 1,337
VinnieFI get that the sands aren't right in town, but I would expect there to be storage facilities and such which, especially these days, would be full of equipment.


Not necessarily the oil companies themselves, but I'm sure Cat/Finning shop would have a shitload of equipment laying around along with many other subcontractors. I think the reality of it was that this seems to have somehow caught everyone off guard. Tuesday morning there was a fire somewhat nearby, by the afternoon people were evacuating
May 5 2016 11:25PM
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Upsidedownbros
Posts: 22 - Karma: 169
mhuddy_22Brothers house burnt down.... He's a pilot so hopefully the hangar and planes make it.


Apparently they've been launching the water bombers from the airport so hopefully they'll be alright
May 6 2016 12:36AM
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jca
Posts: 4171 - Karma: 6,311
VinnieFThe cuts were only done a couple weeks ago and from what I gather wouldn't be in effect until the current contracts run out at the end of the summer. So they have no impact on current firefighting efforts. They'll probably also reverse the cuts since after this is done it would be an easy crowd pleaser.


Yup, they shortened the season for the waterbombers by about 30 days I believe. They're taking 30 days off the end of the season so that cut hasn't affected this fire.
May 6 2016 5:29AM
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TheBigApple
Posts: 1169 - Karma: 488
Well this will make the federal deficit another $10 billion or so. Good think Trudeau is already 3 times over his original proposed budget deficit.
May 6 2016 5:14PM
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corona
Posts: 12795 - Karma: 32,750
TheBigAppleWell this will make the federal deficit another $10 billion or so. Good think Trudeau is already 3 times over his original proposed budget deficit.


It won't do that at all. Firstly, the largest chunk of money will be from insurance companies. Unfortunately the rest of Canada will probably be paying for it 10 times over in slight premiums increases over the next few years (insurance companies are quite literally the scum of the earth). Then the next largest contributors will probably be the Alberta government, municipal government, and oil companies looking to rebuild (so long as oil prices rebound). It's not like that province is lacking any capital, just tack a couple billion more onto the provincial deficit that will be payed off as soon as oil prices rebound. Of course if the province was actually managed competently there would already be the money in contingency funds (think Norway). Then finally the federal government will be the next largest contributor. Although there's a good chance the largest contributions are already in the budget in form of infrastructure spending. I'm sure the Conservatives won't be complaining about the huge infrastructure spending then.

Anyways, what you said won't happen.
May 6 2016 6:39PM
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corona
Posts: 12795 - Karma: 32,750
VinnieFIt's not like that province is lacking any capital


capital is the wrong word to use.. they are definitely lacking capital right now.
May 6 2016 6:43PM
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Lé.Skiing
Posts: 10035 - Karma: 8,128
Fort McMurray as seen from Nasa observatory in space.






http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=87988&src=nha
May 6 2016 8:20PM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
Holy shit.

May 3


May 4


May 5


**This post was edited on May 6th 2016 at 8:58:25pm
May 6 2016 8:47PM
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MLB
Posts: 4462 - Karma: 298
First things first....the Alberta Government will bear the brunt of the costs for actioning the fire. The number of helicopters, air tankers, and dozers groups alone are already in the millions. Add to that the cost of manpower and it's just gonna ballon from there.

Second...the big issue right now is not just McMurry, it's the whole province. Everything north of Edmonton is either at high risk of fire or is already burning. Full province wide fire ban.

The third problem is that the fire management centre was one of the first things to go with the fire. As a result our district (Slave Lake) has two cover their western half.

It's gonna be a tough push until air tanker 1 gets some water on it, but till then we're gonna do what we can.
May 6 2016 11:33PM
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californiagrown
Posts: 9794 - Karma: 2,014
FUUUCKmoving at speeds up to 10km an hour (faster than you can run)


You run fucking slow haha. That said, that guy is just a troll. Best to ignore.


What do you think is the cause of such a gnarly start to the fire season? The artificial lack of forest fires in previous years leading to a buildup of underbrush? A perfect storm of weather conditions? A lack of urgency in the initial stages of the fire?

What do you think they could do better?
May 7 2016 1:45PM
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.Hugo.
Posts: 17360 - Karma: 28,485
It was smoky down here in st paul this morning. Thought my neighbor passed out at his bonfire last night and never put it out at first.
May 7 2016 8:43PM
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