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| Forces of Nature Conspire Against Firefighters Around Fort McMurray | Forces of Nature Conspire Against Firefighters Around Fort McMurray |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| How do you stop a big, fast-moving wildfire like the one ravaging Fort McMurray, Alberta? The answer is, you can’t. | How do you stop a big, fast-moving wildfire like the one ravaging Fort McMurray, Alberta? The answer is, you can’t. |
| Don Whittemore, a senior disaster response manager from Boulder, Colo., who has trained teams of firefighters in the United States and abroad, compared the task to “trying to stop a hurricane from hitting the Eastern Seaboard.” | Don Whittemore, a senior disaster response manager from Boulder, Colo., who has trained teams of firefighters in the United States and abroad, compared the task to “trying to stop a hurricane from hitting the Eastern Seaboard.” |
| Wildfires are fought from the air and on the ground in a coordinated offensive meant to keep them from spreading. If the fire can be denied access to fresh terrain and fresh fuel, it will dwindle and burn itself out. But when strong, shifting winds are driving the flames, as in Alberta, the fire can move unpredictably and leap far beyond fire breaks and other obstacles like rivers and highways, making containment efforts futile and dangerous. | Wildfires are fought from the air and on the ground in a coordinated offensive meant to keep them from spreading. If the fire can be denied access to fresh terrain and fresh fuel, it will dwindle and burn itself out. But when strong, shifting winds are driving the flames, as in Alberta, the fire can move unpredictably and leap far beyond fire breaks and other obstacles like rivers and highways, making containment efforts futile and dangerous. |
| “It’s not a matter of not enough resources, or not enough money, or not enough willpower to fight the fire,” Mr. Whittemore said. “It’s the basic fact that there are forces of nature that we simply cannot control.” | “It’s not a matter of not enough resources, or not enough money, or not enough willpower to fight the fire,” Mr. Whittemore said. “It’s the basic fact that there are forces of nature that we simply cannot control.” |
| Those who fight wildfires base what they do on a ranked list of priorities, and at the very top is life and safety. If neither can be ensured, the only sensible option is to disengage. | Those who fight wildfires base what they do on a ranked list of priorities, and at the very top is life and safety. If neither can be ensured, the only sensible option is to disengage. |
| That is what has happened at Fort McMurray in the face of a fire that the mayor, Melissa Blake, called “a multiheaded monster.” Officials have focused on making sure that residents get out safely; by Wednesday, about 88,000 people had been evacuated from the area without any reported deaths or injuries directly related to the fire. Pushed to the sidelines by the raging flames, firefighters are focusing on spot fires until they are able to attack the main blaze. | That is what has happened at Fort McMurray in the face of a fire that the mayor, Melissa Blake, called “a multiheaded monster.” Officials have focused on making sure that residents get out safely; by Wednesday, about 88,000 people had been evacuated from the area without any reported deaths or injuries directly related to the fire. Pushed to the sidelines by the raging flames, firefighters are focusing on spot fires until they are able to attack the main blaze. |
| Firefighters, the least visible players in the battle, are also the most crucial. The tools of their trade — chain saws, shovels, picks, pounders and a combination adz and ax called a Pulaski — are as rudimentary as they are effective. Firefighters use them to open breaks in the forest that are devoid of anything that burns, starving an approaching fire of fuel. | Firefighters, the least visible players in the battle, are also the most crucial. The tools of their trade — chain saws, shovels, picks, pounders and a combination adz and ax called a Pulaski — are as rudimentary as they are effective. Firefighters use them to open breaks in the forest that are devoid of anything that burns, starving an approaching fire of fuel. |
| Working close to the blaze, they also direct helicopter and airplane pilots who drop water and an orange mix of fire-retardant chemicals. The airdrops are the most common action images broadcast on television, but they are not capable of extinguishing a big fire by themselves; they can only help to slow and direct it. | Working close to the blaze, they also direct helicopter and airplane pilots who drop water and an orange mix of fire-retardant chemicals. The airdrops are the most common action images broadcast on television, but they are not capable of extinguishing a big fire by themselves; they can only help to slow and direct it. |
| Prolonged drought and unseasonably warm weather has left the forests of northern Alberta tinder-dry and primed to burn. On Wednesday, the temperature in Fort McMurray hit 88 degrees Fahrenheit, far above the previous record high for the date, with wind gusts up to 35 miles an hour and relative humidity below 20 percent. Those conditions will have to change substantially before it will be either safe or practical for firefighters to mount a major offensive. | |
| “Mother Nature has conspired against us on multiple fronts,” Daryl Black, a member of the emergency command team in Fort McMurray, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “What we’re looking for is a prolonged period of precipitation. As things stand, there’s no suppression that’s going to be happening.” | “Mother Nature has conspired against us on multiple fronts,” Daryl Black, a member of the emergency command team in Fort McMurray, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “What we’re looking for is a prolonged period of precipitation. As things stand, there’s no suppression that’s going to be happening.” |