FORT MCMURRAY , Alberta, May 7 (UPI) — The Fort McMurray wildfire is expected to double in size by the end of the day Saturday as Canadian officials continue evacuation efforts.
Dry conditions and southwestern winds are expected to continue to fuel the fires, which has already destroyed nearly 2,000 homes and forced the evacuation of about 90,000 people.
“I do expect that there is a high potential that this fire could double in size by tomorrow,” Alberta senior wildfire manager Chad Morrison told the CBC. “We have substantially extreme fire conditions in front of us still for the next two days.”
The fire could expand to nearly 500,000 acres by the end of Saturday, about three times the size of Toronto.
Efforts to airlift remaining evacuees are set to continue. Some 5,500 people were evacuated by air on Friday and 4,000 more were expected to be airlifted on Saturday.
A land convoy containing about about 1,500 vehicles was also expected to continue starting at 6 a.m. on Saturday, after being halted by 200-foot flames on Friday.
“We stopped due to heavy smoke,” Sgt. Jack Poitras of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said, according to the BBC. “You get flames of 100, 200 feet up in the air on both sides of the road so it’s not safe.”
Police said that search and rescue crews discovered people still inside the city despite the evacuation orders.
“People need to understand that evacuation orders are issued for a reason, and that not leaving puts them and emergency responders at unnecessary risk,” Inspector Gibson Glavin said.
The rescue and containment effort has seen more than 1,000 fire fighters and 150 helicopters, 295 pieces of heavy equipment and 27 aircraft tankers deployed to the area, according to the Canadian government.
