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Within recent weeks, there has been a viral spread throughout social media outlets of video recordings capturing the same widespread cataclysmic event which resembles a scene of armageddon. Vicious flames roar several stories tall as they consume the Boreal forest trees directly across the street from a long row of neighboring family homes that illuminate the burning colors of fire off the front of their vacant bodies. A far stretching line of escaping cars litter the road as their passengers try to navigate their way towards safety through a blinding thick blanket of smoke, ash and burning embers. Though the countless videos help to provide a notion that the end is upon us, the world isn’t actually ending quite yet and these videos are actually depicting the Canadian wildfire that is currently eviscerating the city of Fort McMurray and covers 620 sq. miles of Alberta, according to BBC News.
Beginning a week ago, this fire has grown tremendously forcing at least 100,000 people from Fort McMurray and surrounding areas to evacuate their home’s and belonging’s with barely any time to prepare or decide what’s truly valuable. BBC interviewed the cities representative in the Canadian House of Commons, David Yurdiga, who says, ” An estimate: 20% have been burnt, but the majority of homes are standing, no damage at all,” a statistic that he views from the perception of the glass being half full. Another surprising fact about this whole Canadian-oil-town-being-ravaged-by-unrelenting-flames fiasco, is that officials have reported that the fire still has yet to claim any lives thankfully, yet it stills played a major role in causing two fatal car accidents that have occurred during the evacuation process.
Officials have predicted that this traumatic fire will result in being labeled as the country’s most costly natural disaster to date and even by itself, insurance costs have already surpassed the billion dollar mark. There are many issues surrounding this event that have yet to be answered, such as when will evacuees be able to return, how much longer the fire can last, what the root cause of it was and how this scorched city will effect the Canadian economy. Fort McMurray has been the recent epicenter of a very profitable oil-boom and the city which was once littered with strip clubs and dilapidated architecture had become upgraded and home to a collection of upper-middle class families. The city has also served as a new beginning to many refugees seeking a better life and sadly when they return to their new homes, some will discover all that remains of their businesses, community centers and churches are just smoldering building frames that had been eaten away at by the flames.
Though there has been no official estimate of when this fire will become extinguished and it holds potential to carry on for months. Mother nature can play a vital role in providing some rainfall, which is the only way to completely diminish the fire’s spread. For the time being, the only thing people can do is attempt to keep the fire contained in a choke hold and hope that it says sorry when finally subdued.
