Alberta fires threaten oil ops

Canada

FORT MCMURRAY, May 17, 2016 – The wildfires that continue to eat away at the forests surrounding the oil sands operations in Canada’s Alberta province have necessitated the evacuation of oil workers late on Monday.

Some 8,000 workers were ordered to evacuate camps north of Fort McMurray amidst an expansion of the mandatory evacuation zone. Oil sands operator Suncor said late on Monday it had “started a staged and orderly shutdown of our base plant operations” as a result of the blaze, which is now in its third week.

Wildfires were also threatening Enbridge’s Cheecham oil sands transportation terminal, where work on a firebreak around the terminal was ongoing. Now within 1 km of the facility, the fires were fanned by a return of warm temperatures and wind.

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