Residents evacuate as wildfires move closer

Thousands leave Fort McMurray with B.C. communities also under threat

Smoke and flames dominate the horizon in Fort McMurray, Alta., on Tuesday. More than 230 wildfires are active across Western Canada, with about 130 in B.C.

FORT MCMURRAY, ALTA Thousands of residents in four neighbourhoods in the southern end of Fort McMurray were ordered out Tuesday as a wildfire threatened the Alberta city, bringing back memories of a devastating fire eight years earlier.

The Rural Municipality of Wood Buffalo directed residents in Beacon Hill, Abasand, Prairie Creek and Grayling Terrace needed to leave by late afternoon.

Regional fire chief Jody Butz said residents in the four neighbourhoods were being ordered out to clear room for crews to fight the fire, which had moved to within 7.5 kilometres of the Fort McMurray landfill.

"We have the resources to defend these areas but we need people out of harm's way," he said during a news conference.

Butz said later in an update to the Wood Buffalo council that about 6,600 residents were covered under the evacuation order. About 68,000 live in the city.

An emergency evacuation warning remained in place for the rest of Fort McMurray and the communities of Saprae Creek, Gregoire Lake Estates, Fort McMurray First Nation No. 468, Anzac and Rickards Landing Industrial Park.

Those residents have been told to prepare to leave on short notice. "I'm not anticipating us to have another evacuation. But if the time does come, I ask that you listen to the areas that are being evacuated because there is thought and strategy behind that," Butz said at the council meeting.

The rural municipality declared a state of local emergency Tuesday afternoon, a move that allows it to access additional resources and powers under the Emergency Management Act.