Alberta Wildfire Case Study

Hazards - Physical Geography

where and when

• May 2016

• Canada Alberta Province

• GDP per capita: $42,310 USD

• HDI: 0.92 

• worst affected = Fort McMurray

causes

• lack of winter snowfall

• early snow melt in spring

• warmer than avg temps in spring and low humidity = dry ground

• high wind speeds

• Intensity of fire created lightning leading to ignition of additional fires = rare positive feedback

• strong el nino effect

• climate change = earlier springs = longer wildfire season

primary responses

• satellite data and meteorological info used to forecast fire direction

• 5 warnings issued, emergency services mobilised

• all 88,000 Fort McMurray residents evacuated

• gov declared state of emergency = triggered support of Canadian armed forces

• donation centres set up

• helicopters, water bombers and firefighters

• 14 air tankers with fire retardant

• Almost 90% of Fort McMurray saved - 25,000 structures saved

secondary responses

• gov provided evacuees with CAN$1250 for living expenses

• Red Cross received donations over CAN$50 million

• online registry created to help evacuees find accomodation

• Canadian prime minister promised long term aid

• June 2016 ‘Fire Aid’ concert to raise money

• (Smokey Bear American icon campaign of US Forest Service in the Wildfire Prevention Campaign)

primary social impacts

• no deaths or injuries

• 90,000 ppl forced to flee McMurray

• Power supplies disrupted 

• 1/3 of 25,000 workers in nearby oil sands industry had to be evacuated from work camps

• Transport affected including nearby international airport 

primary economic impacts

• 10% of all structures in the town were destroyed.

• 2400 homes and businesses destroyed

• Power supplies disrupted 

• Shell Canada temporarily shut down its Albian Sands mining operation, 600 work camp units were destroyed by fire, fire estimated to cost the industry CAN$1bn

primary environmental impacts

• Burned 600,000ha of land

• Fire severly affected boreal forest ecosystem

• Fire will have released several million tonnes of CO2 into atmosphere

secondary environmental impacts

• dry peaty soils could reignite any time

• toxins released from burning trees/buildings created air pollution as far as USA

• ash washed into water = water pollution = contamination of aquatic wildlife

• large quantities of toxic waste eg rotting food and debris had to be disposed of

secondary social impacts

• job, livelihood and movement affected

• increased levels of anxiety abt future

• water supplies contaminated from added untreated water to supply to help firefighters

secondary economic impacts

was costliest insured natural disaster in Canadian history - C$5bn

secondary political impacts

• fire fuelled political debate over possible impacts of climate change

• Alberta gov oversaw phased safe re-entry of citizens

• coordination of reconstruction programmes for buildings, services and infrastructure