(Photo Supplied: A police officer walks through the destruction during the wildfire in Fort McMurray on May. 5, 2016. RCMP Alberta / TWITTER)
As of 2 p.m. Thursday the wildfire was moving near the intersection of Highway 63 and Highway 881 moving in a south east direction towards Anzac.
That’s according to Fort McMurray Area Information Officer Lynn Daina with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.
Daina said her team had spent the night at its Hangingstone river facility after being evacuated but has since moved back to Fort McMurray just north of the airport. The fire is on the southern side of the new airport terminal.
Ground crews and bulldozers are working in the Parsons Creek area trying to establish a guard, which is good news because if the fire were still raging firefighters wouldn’t be allowed on scene. Helicopters are also trying to protect the areas by dropping buckets of water.
Alberta Agriculture and Forestry says an aerial scout is tracking the head of the fire to look at the long range forecast and direct the attack.
As of last night Daina says the scene in Thickwood seems to have settled down. She also noted that bulldozers were put to work downtown.
According to this tweet from Brian Jean some major infrastructure points in McMurray are still standing as of 12:35 p.m.
Mac Island, hospital, City Hall, Provincial Building, Casman Centre all fine AT THIS TIME. Very good news. #ymm #ymmfire
— Brian Jean (@BrianJeanWRP) May 5, 2016
Crews are also working to protect the south-east line of the city near Saprae Creek, while this tweet from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo seems to indicate that Prairie Creek is safe.
Can’t express the feeling of coming in and seeing Fire Hall 5/Prairie Creek undamaged #ymmfire
— RMWB (@RMWoodBuffalo) May 5, 2016
Two spot fires broke out straight east of Fort McMurray yesterday covering an area of about 300 hectares, Daina expects those wildfires to join up with the big one.
Highway 881 is closed to public traffic at the Conklin intersection at this time, that means travel further north than Conklin is no longer possible.
Highway 63 through the city is still closed.
