31 May 2002
Operational
Significant Event Imagery (OSEI)
The following significant events were identified by Satellite Analysis Branch
meteorologists and reviewed by the OSEI support team of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
NESDIS/OSEI NOAA-14 POES AVHRR LAC satellite images,
Heat signatures (red) and smoke (light blue haze) are visible from fires burning in Saskatchewan.
(Source: OSEI/NOAA)
FIRES SMOULDER IN NORTHERN ALBERTA, NORTHWEST MANITOBA
WebPosted Wed May 29 22:31:04 2002
CONKLIN, ALTA.--Firefighters warn that the massive blaze burning out of
control in northern Alberta may get worse.
Officials say rain is expected today but it will not be enough to dampen the
blaze. They're also concerned that lightning from the storm may spark other
fires.
A finger branching off from the main fire continues to threaten the small town
of Conklin, about 250 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.
People who live there were taken by bus to a school in Fort McMurray, 125
kilometres to the north. Workers from 10 industrial camps and lodges were
transported out of the area as well.
More than 1,200 people have been forced to leave.
The fire currently covers 1,200 square kilometres, an area bigger than the
city of Toronto. Long and thin in shape, it has been branching out in fingers.
The House River fire has already destroyed 1,000 square kilometres of forest.
Nearly 900 firefighters, 45 helicopters, eight water bombers and 75 bulldozers
are at work. The operation is estimated to cost $1 million a day.
In northwestern Manitoba, a forest fire has forced as many as 30 people from
their homes.
So far the flames have burnt a 34-square-kilometre swath of land near Red Deer
Lake, northwest of Winnipeg.
More than 100 people in nearby towns are on alert in case the fire moves
towards them.
(Source: CBC News)
REDWATER, Alta. (CP) _ A tenacious brush fire destroyed another home north
of Edmonton on Thursday, while stiff winds hastened the spread of an equally
stubborn and larger blaze in the forest further north.
Crews fighting the brush fire near Redwater, where an evacuation forced 15
families from their homes, were having little success controlling it.
``It still is the case that the winds are strong and they . . . can't contain
it yet,'' said Sturgeon County spokeswoman Barb Smith.
``Unfortunately, some time during the night, we did lose another home, so now
we have three homes lost due to this fire, and several other structures such
as workshops and sheds.''
Andy Makowsky, Redwater's fire chief, said the fire had grown to 11 square
kilometres and firefighters didn't have ``a good handle on it.''
``It's a volatile area with pine and spruce. A lot of it didn't burn
(Wednesday) and it's flaring up in the winds.''
The goal was to create a perimeter around the mainly farms and country homes
threatened by the fire.
Crews were bracing for another difficult day in Alberta, but there were also
fires still burning near several other Prairie communities where people were
forced to flee their homes. In Manitoba, however, some evacuees were expected
to return by the afternoon.
Conditions at one particularly aggressive fire in northern Alberta, which
already forced the evacuation of 1,200 people, were expected to be ``very
extreme'' Thursday.
``It's going to be very volatile with those winds,'' said fire official Rick
Strickland. ``You can expect to see rapid spread rates.''
The intensity rating of the out-of-control blaze, about 100 kilometres south
of Fort McMurray, was expected to increase sharply with wind gusts of up to 60
kilometres an hour, said Strickland, who added conditions were ripe for what
is know as a crown fire.
``A crown fire is when it gets into the top portion of the trees, moving from
one to another,'' he said. ``In these winds it can move very quickly, even
faster than on the ground.''
Strickland said Thursday was shaping up to be one of the worst days since the
fire began May 17. It has scorched up 1,400 square kilometres _ an area more
than double the size of the city of Toronto _ like a ravenous, fire-chomping
Pac-man.
``The winds can carry burning pieces of debris up to five kilometres in front
of the main fire, creating new fires and pulling the main fire in that
vortex.''
The advancing flames were less than 15 kilometres from the hamlet of Conklin
where 250 residents were evacuated Monday along with hundreds of others from
small camps in the area.
The province was keeping a small army of more than 1,000 firefighters, two
dozen water bombers and dozens of helicopters and bulldozers at various points
across the northern half of the province.
A storm Wednesday night resulted in thousands of lightning strikes and caused
more than a dozen new fires, but there was no significant rain, said
Strickland. There were more than 200 fires burning in all.
In Manitoba, emergency and conservation officials determined it was safe
enough to allow about 150 people from the Powell-Barrows area, about 500
kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, to begin returning to their homes.
But both communities were to remain on one-hour standby for at least another
24 hours to see if crews could continue to hold the line on a fire that was
just 1{ kilometres from Powell at one point.
Ground crews and helicopters with water buckets were still working on the
fire, which is believed to have been deliberately set. Almost 300 fires have
been reported to date in Manitoba.
A fire was still burning as well in Saskatchewan, about 180 kilometres east of
Saskatoon near Archerville. That fire has doubled in size since last week and
could go on for some time, said John Cook of the provincial fire control
centre.
``The conditions are so dry in the fire ban areas that even unusual things
that don't normally start fires can start them,'' said Cook, who added car
accidents and even glass in a ditch can trigger blazes.
Tinder-dry forests fuel Canadian wildfires
CALGARY - Nearly 1,000 firefighters battled a huge forest fire in northern
Alberta yesterday, with officials holding out little hope of bringing the
blaze, which has already forced the evacuation of one small community, under
control any time soon.
The fire, which has been devouring vast tracts of woodlands near the tiny
northeastern Alberta town of Conklin for about a week, has now spread over
1,200 square kilometres (470 square miles) of tinder-dry forest, an area
roughly 1-1/2 times that of New York City.
Conklin's 250 residents were evacuated this week. The town is about 300 km
(186 miles) northeast of Edmonton.
The so-called House River fire was within 13 km (8 miles) of Conklin
yesterday, said Rick Strickland, the western province's forest fire
information officer.
"We've done a pretty good job on holding the perimeter but under these
conditions - very explosive conditions with these winds - you get a couple
breaks in the line and the fire spreads," Strickland said.
The fire was also causing headaches for Alberta's large oil industry.
EnCana Corp. , the world's biggest independent explorer and producer, said it
evacuated 21 workers on Monday from its new heavy oil plant at nearby
Christina Lake.
Company spokesman Scott Ranson said the fire was burning about 17 km (11
miles) from the plant, which has yet to start pumping oil.
Staff at two natural gas compressor stations in the region were also forced to
stay away from the facilities.
Strickland said winds of up to 30 km per hour (20 mph) winds and low humidity,
the result of years of drought in the region, were making the battle
difficult.
"Although rain would certainly help...it would still be difficult, but
then we would have something to work with," he said. "There's no
rain in the forecast for the next couple of days that would have any large
impact on the fire."
Alberta is spending C$1.2 million ($780,000) a day on firefighters,
helicopters, water bombers and heavy equipment to fight the blaze.
Firefighters have been brought in from neighboring British Columbia and as far
away as Quebec to bolster Alberta's efforts to fight the fire, the province's
12th biggest in the past two decades. The cause of the fire is not known.
Much of the Prairie province of Manitoba is also facing an extreme fire risk
due to hot, dry weather and lightning strikes.
More than 100 firefighters, supported by water bombers and bulldozers, battled
a 3,000 hectare (7,400 acre) blaze burning out control near Red Deer Lake in
the north-central part of the province yesterday.
About 25 people have been forced from their homes in the community of Powell.
Another neighboring community, Barrows, is on a one-hour alert.
Fire investigators said they believe the blaze was deliberately set.
There have already been 281 forest fires in Manitoba this year, involving
12,100 hectares (30,000 acres). (Source: Planet
Ark)
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