In case you didn't know...
In Alberta, a fire the size of the GTA (Toronto; over 85,000 hectares) has consumed an enter city. Fort McMurray is pretty much gone. That fire has been burning for about a week now, and we don’t have enough firefighters to keep it in check. During the first few days of the blaze, before firefighters from other parts of the country arrived, a lot of the fire-drenching heroes had been working 80 hours straight trying to stop the flames. It didn’t work, and the fire just kept getting bigger and bigger. The only way it will go out is if the region gets a torrential downpour, and if you know anything about Alberta, you’ll know that isn’t something that’s likely to happen.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, two days ago, a second wild fire burst into existence in BC. Yesterday, that fire spread over the BC/Alberta border.
Today, a string of fires blazed to life along the Manitoba/Ontario border.
All of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as most of Manitoba and BC are under extreme fire warning, which means the environment is really dry, and perfect for the spread/start of even more fires.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, literally ripped away from their entire lives, because of these fires. Right now, they’re all being housed in other parts of their provinces, but that won’t last long, especially if the Fort Mac fire continues to spread. The smoke (which spread all the way down into the states) will force even more people to leave, if the fire doesn’t.
What we need is support from our fellow nations. Mexico and Russia are the only two countries in the entire world who have offered help. We are always one of the first to help others in their times of crisis, so now we ask that the favour be returned. Right now, international friends, all I can ask is for you to share this post. Pass it on to everyone you know, and raise awareness of what’s happening to our beautiful country. If you can, donate some money to the Canadian Red Cross ( www.redcross.ca ), so they can better help those who have been displaces by the fire. What we need most, though, is more firefighting support. With so many large scale fires happening, we’re under staffed. Hopefully, enough people share this that the USA, or anyone really, sends us more supplies and more people to fight the flames.
Thank you, on behalf of Canada, for any and all support.
UPDATE (08/05/2016) : CBC announced early this morning that the fire in Fort Mac could potentially last months, growing in size all the while. The fire is also so bad it is creating it's own lightning, which can start even more blazes. Finally, the flames are currently travelling East, towards the Saskatchewan border. If you're in the Alberta/Saskatchewan area, please keep up to date with the situation and BE SAFE! If an evacuation is set for your town, leave immediately. Your life is worth more than your things.
UPDATE (08/05/2016): There’s also a fire that has been burning in the Qu’Apelle valley in Saskatchewan for about a week. Luckily, it isn’t near any houses or farms, but since the weather is so dry, it could easily spread to populated areas. (thanks @dracoyoulittlepoofer for the info)
For comparison, this was the size fire two days ago (06/05/2016):
And this was the size of the fire yesterday (07/05/2016):
Finally, here’s a gif that show you how the fire has spread since it started:
Thank you to all who have been reblogging this post. If anyone has more info on fires currently threatening Canada, please let me know and I’ll add it here.
