Unpredictable winds lead to more evacuations near Fort McMurray wildfire

An ever-changing situation is fraying the nerves of residents and officials alike, as a massive wildfire continues to terrorize the Fort McMurray area.

Early Thursday, weary evacuees were on buses again being forced from their temporary shelters in the hamlet of Anzac.

The neighbourhood of Gregoire and Fort McMurray First Nations were also evacuated.

Betty Woodward was reluctant to leave.

“They said they mandatory evacuated all of Anzac and I don’t feel like that fire’s that close. I don’t know what they’ve reported so far in the last couple hours, all I know is –get out. I don’t want to get out. This is my home. I was born and raised here in Anzac,” she said.

The order took Bree Braumberger and her family by surprise.

“I just want everybody to have enough time and not be like Fort McMurray, where all of a sudden the fire is on you. They want to give us enough time to head out, especially since the highway is backed up,” she said.

They’ve now moved further south to Lac La Biche, along with 900 people who had already been evacuated from Fort McMurray earlier in the week, and were staying at an Anzac recreation centre.

Resident and Volunteer Steve Bodden was at Fort McMurray International Airport working frantically on fire prevention measures Wednesday.

“It came so fast,” he said. “The second motel there started on fire, and the second it started on fire it wasn’t five seconds later there was a ten storey flame behind it. You could just feel the heat through the vehicle.”

Bodden says they moved equipment around all day, trying to hide it from the blaze, but it seemed there was no safe place.

“I’m watching our yard going up in flames — our transport trucks, excavators, equipment. We’ve got a fire truck there ready to donate — and everything is just smoke,” he said.

Crews continued to fight fires in the Prospect Drive area overnight, but there are no updates yet as to the damage.

A cold front has moved in and the forecast high is 19 degrees for Thursday, down from 30-plus temperatures the past couple days. But the wind is currently gusting close to 40 km/h, and is expected to gust up to 50km/h into the evening.