Terrifying Escapes Captured on Dashcam Video as a City Burns
Surrounded by hundreds of miles of tinder-dry forest, Fort McMurray, Alberta seemed to ignite in an instant when wildfires overtook the oil-producing Canadian city earlier this week.
As the 88,000 residents fled in their vehicles, in many cases with just the shirts on their back, dashcams captured their flight towards safety.
It’s harrowing stuff, especially when you consider there’s only one highway leading into the city — an artery that quickly turned into a parking lot as flames encroached on both sides. Amazingly, no lives were lost in the fast-moving disaster.
Watch the horror for yourselves after the break:
Amazing fiery video shot by Robert Murray, who grew up on our street in YHZ. @NovaCanuck of @FortMacToday . https://t.co/Q6w1DxxgbY
— Joanne Cook (@johalifax) May 5, 2016
My harrowing drive evacuating praying for my friends pic.twitter.com/XGFWfavqR2
— Jordan J Stuffco (@jstuffcocrimlaw) May 3, 2016
@DFriesenGlobal speaks with Jason Edmondson about his dramatic escape from https://t.co/lO6X4Yib1a
— Global National (@GlobalNational) May 4, 2016
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This is horrible . . Some years ago I was in Arizona when this same thing occurred and we skedaddled A.S.A.P. , I nearly crapped my self thinking of the poorly maintained truck (not mine) I was riding in and what I'd do if it clattered to a stop in the middle of a forest fire . . It's now 6PM on 5.7 and the news still says no deaths , it's a miracle . . -Nate
It would be interesting to know how the aluminum-bodied Ford pickups fared, if any of them were among the many abandoned vehicles. I saw one shot of a burned out pickup with melted alloy rims. Regarding the global cooling event of the 70's, I'd like to reinforce that there was a bit of substance to it but it was a non-event in the overall trends. You cannot find any proof that, for instance, Greenpeace ever cited global cooling. Meanwhile other enviro concerns such as the holes in the ozone layer and acid rain were valid and were more or less countered by measures resulting from the hoopla. So if anything the record is that such concerns should be heeded. Deniers like to depict those who warn of global warming as idiots by saying they want to end all use of fossil fuels immediately. Obviously that would be idiotic. In reality the call is for reducing dependence on fossil fuels. But the deniers either are too thick to understand the difference, or their thirst for a brawl overcomes their common sense.