Fort McMurray Disaster:Wildfire Shows No Let Up;Rescue Convoys Continue

As of Saturday morning,there was no improvement in the wildfire catastrophe that has virtually emptied what remains of Fort McMurray,Alberta,sending its 80,000 residents fleeing north or south from the conflagration.According to Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale,the situation remains unpredictable and dangerous.The convoys that guided around 7500 evacuees from their crowded refuges in the oilsands camps north of the city on Friday would continue today,he said.Hopefully another 7500 of the 20,000 northern evacuees would be convoyed to safety south of Fort McMurray today.The residents of the city were split up into those fleeing north and those rushing south when the main highway through town,Highway 63,was closed by the raging blaze.They are taking refuge as far south as Edmonton and Calgary in everywhere from hotels to reception centres and the homes of friends and relatives.
Police are marshaling the evacuees into small convoys of 50 vehicles each that are then led down the road one convoy at a time.A handful of stragglers in the city have been escorted out by the RCMP.Wildland firefighters from other provinces are being brought into the area to relieve their exhausted Alberta colleagues.Fires or the threat of fires are currently rampant across the entire boreal forest in the dry and windswept conditions.
The fire,which is likely to burn on for weeks,will result in losses of well into the billions of dollars.So far,there are no known fatalties from it,but it is surely a chapter in the history of North American wildland fire,given the scope of the evacuations and the extreme fire behaviour,such as firenadoes,whirlwinds of flame that have been spotted among the trees and brush of Fort McMurray.

Fire and Flooding Threaten Rockies Communities

Areas of the Rocky Mountains have been plagued by both fire and flood recently.Powerful flood waters coursed through the Calgary,Alberta area Friday.About 75,000 have been evacuated from their homes,but only 1500 are in emergency shelters.Most have taken refuge with friends and relatives.
Three deaths have been reported so far.The water went as high as the tenth row at the ice rink of the Calgary Flames NHL team.The Calgary Stampede rodeo grounds were also inundated,with water reaching the roofs of barns at the site.
The flooding is attributed to a combination of prodigious Rocky Mountains snow melt and heavy rain swelling the Bow River.It extends as far south as Lethbridge,Alberta.The waters appear to have peaked in Calgary for the moment,but could still go higher,and other towns have yet to feel their full force.
Elsewhere in the Rocky Mountains,Colorado wildfires are among those causing the US Forest Service to spend 40% of its budget on firefighting.A total of 16 are currently burning in Colorado,some of them totally uncontained.Arizona and New Mexico are also struggling with conflagrations.
In Colorado,the East Peak fire is now at 9,000 acres and 0% containment.Ten buildings were destroyed,including a Boy Scouts ranch.The scouts were evacuated.The West Fork fire has grown to more than 18,000 acres,and the Wild Rose fire is another blaze that is  also 0% contained at 850 acres.
On the plus side,the Black Forest fire was declared fully contained on Thursday.It had killed two people and destroyed 509 homes.Arson is suspected in that fire.
Ultimately,the question is whether global warming has contributed to both the fires and the flooding.One suspects that it has,since it is the context of everything weather-related in our world today.