The wildfire that swept through Fort McMurray two weeks ago has now breached a vital fireguard , threatening Canada ’s prominent vegetable oil production facilities , and force the emptying of thousands more workers . As seen from distance , this on-going wildfire is a horrific visual sense to lay eyes on .
Plans to restart oilsands production in northern Alberta were put on handle this hebdomad when a change in wind direction send the lingering wildfire northwards towards critical oil sands projects . Some 4,000 workers from a twelve work camps , let in those hightail it by Syncrude Canada and Suncor Energy , had to be evacuate . The fire ’s change of direction caught the companies by surprise , delaying a much - demand restitution to product . A doer camp with 665 suite bite to the ground yesterday .
Production facilities have been in a nation of limbo since the first hebdomad of May , when the wildfire destroyed a substantial portion of Fort McMurray , a thunder town that ’s home to grand of oilsands workers . The fervency have cut Canadian oil colour output by one million cask a sidereal day . As of yesterday , the out - of - control blaze cover 877,224 acres ( 355,000 hectares ) , up from 704,250 acres ( 285,000 hectares ) on Monday .
Earlier this week , the Suomi - NPP satellite capture a natural coloring trope of active fire near Fort McMurray . Areas outlined in red symbolise hot smudge where the satellite ’s seeable Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite ( VIIRS ) detect warm surface temperatures triggered by the blast . deep plumes of smoke can be seen wafting to the northeastern United States .
So far , none of the oil sands have caught flack , but precautions are being made to insure that they do n’t . Many product facilities are deem low - jeopardy because much of the outlying vegetation has been cleared and there ’s plenty of gravel on situation .
It ’s not immediately clear when the wildfire will be extinguished , but some estimation come in it at months . And given its unpredictable nature , it could be a while before oil production returns to normal in northern Alberta .
[ NASA Earth Observatory , Calgary Herald , Reuters ]
wildfires
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