Category Archives: Wildfire

THE NEW YORKER: Fort McMurray and the Fires of Climate Change

Repost from The New Yorker

Fort McMurray and the Fires of Climate Change

BY ELIZABETH KOLBERT, May 5, 2016
A helicopter flies past a wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta, on Wednesday. The blaze has spread through an area covering more than three hundred square miles.
A helicopter flies past a wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta, on Wednesday. The blaze has spread through an area covering more than three hundred square miles.A helicopter flies past a wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta, on Wednesday. The blaze has spread through an area covering more than three hundred square miles. PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON FRANSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS / AP

The town of Fort McMurray, some four hundred miles north of Calgary, in Canada, grew up very quickly on both sides of the Athabasca River. During the nineteen-seventies, the population of the town tripled, and since then it has nearly tripled again. All this growth has been fuelled by a single activity: extracting oil from a Florida-sized formation known as the tar sands. When the price of oil was high, there was so much currency coursing through Fort McMurray’s check-cashing joints that the town was dubbed “Fort McMoney.”

Now Fort McMurray is burning. A forest fire that began to the southwest of the town on Sunday has forced the entire population—almost ninety thousand people—to evacuate. On Wednesday, Alberta’s provincial government declared a state of emergency. By yesterday, more than fifteen hundred buildings had been destroyed and the blaze had spread through an area covering more than three hundred square miles. It was burning so hot that that it was easily able to jump major rivers. One Canadian official described the fire as “catastrophic.” Another called it a “multi-headed monster.”

No one knows exactly how the fire began—whether it was started by a lightning strike or by a spark provided by a person—but it’s clear why the blaze, once under way, raged out of control so quickly. Alberta experienced an unusually dry and warm winter. Precipitation was low, about half of the norm, and what snow there was melted early. April was exceptionally mild, with temperatures regularly in the seventies; two days ago, the thermometer hit ninety, which is about thirty degrees higher than the region’s normal May maximum. “You hate to use the ​cliché, but it really was kind of a perfect storm,” Mike Wotton, a research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, told the CBC.

Though it’s tough to pin any particular disaster on climate change, in the case of Fort McMurray the link is pretty compelling. In Canada, and also in the United States and much of the rest of the world, higher temperatures have been extending the wildfire season. Last year, wildfires consumed ten million acres in the U.S., which was the largest area of any year on record. All of the top five years occurred in the past decade. In some areas, “we now have year-round fire seasons,” Matt Jolly, a research ecologist for the United States Forest Service, recently told the Times.

“You can say it couldn’t get worse,” Jolly added, but based on its own projections, the forest service expects that it will get worse. According to a Forest Service report published last April, “Climate change has led to fire seasons that are now on average 78 days longer than in 1970.” Over the past three decades, the area destroyed each year by forest fires has doubled, and the service’s scientists project that it’s likely to “double again by midcentury.” A group of scientists who analyzed lake cores from Alaska to obtain a record of forest fires over the past ten thousand years found that, in recent decades, blazes were both unusually frequent and unusually severe. “This extreme combination suggests a transition to a unique regime of unprecedented fire activity,” they concluded.

All of this brings us to what one commentator referred to as “the black irony” of the fire that has destroyed most of Fort McMurray.

The town exists to get at the tar sands, and the tar sands produce a particularly carbon-intensive form of fuel. (The fight over the Keystone XL pipeline is, at its heart, a fight over whether the U.S. should be encouraging —or, if you prefer, profiting from—the exploitation of the tar sands.) The more carbon that goes into the atmosphere, the warmer the world will get, and the more likely we are to see devastating fires like the one now raging.

To raise environmental concerns in the midst of human tragedy is to risk the charge of insensitivity. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alluded to this danger at a recent news conference: “Any time we try to make a political argument out of one particular disaster, I think there’s a bit of a shortcut that can sometimes not have the desired outcome.” And certainly it would be wrong to blame the residents of Fort McMurray for the disaster that has befallen them. As Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist who is a Green Party member of British Columbia’s provincial legislature, noted, “The reality is we are all consumers of products that come from oil.”

But to fail to acknowledge the connection is to risk another kind of offense. We are all consumers of oil, not to mention coal and natural gas, which means that we’ve all contributed to the latest inferno. We need to own up to our responsibility, and then we need to do something about it. The fire next time is one that we’ve been warned about, and that we’ve all had a hand in starting.


Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1999. She won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.”

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Canada Wildfires Force Evacuation, Hampering Oil-Sands Operations

Repost from the Wall Street Journal

Canada Wildfires Force Evacuation, Hampering Oil-Sands Operations

Rapid spread of Alberta blaze prompts evacuation of Fort McMurray, hub of country’s oil-sands industry

By CHESTER DAWSON, Updated May 5, 2016 11:13 a.m. ET

CALGARY, Alberta—Raging forest fires in Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta forced the evacuation of nearly 80,000 people, devastating the remote town at the hub of the country’s oil-sands industry and threatening to further burden a sector already plagued by low energy prices.

Some 76,000 people evacuated from Fort McMurray, 270 miles north of Alberta’s capital Edmonton, to shelters hundreds of miles north and south of the town, officials said, revising an earlier estimate of 88,000.

“We had a devastating day yesterday and we’re preparing for a bad day today,” said Darby Allen, the town’s regional fire chief, at a news briefing Wednesday. He said there were no known casualties or injuries.

The uncontrolled blaze shut down one major oil-sands mining operation on Wednesday and forced another to curtail production. Other operators have evacuated nonessential personnel to make room for thousands of evacuees who fled the disaster and sought refuge in camps designed to house temporary workers.

Firefighters working through Tuesday night extinguished all building fires by early morning, but local officials said nearly 25,000 acres around Fort McMurray were ablaze and that the downtown remains at risk for new fires.

“This is a very complex fire with multiple fronts and explosive conditions,” said Bernie Schmitte, wildfire manager for Alberta’s agriculture and forestry ministry. Officials said the cause of the fire, which they are calling Horse Creek, is being investigated to determine whether any human role or some other cause, such as lightning, triggered the blaze.

Most residents were informed about the mandatory evacuation on Tuesday afternoon and had only 30 minutes to prepare. “Residents were advised to grab what they could and go,” said Mr. Darby, the fire chief. “We didn’t factor in people taking family heirlooms.”

Provincial officials said about 1,600 buildings have been damaged by the fire, which burned parts of several housing subdivisions and some structures in the town center.

WSJ_Ft.McMurrayFireMap2016-05-05

The town of Fort McMurray became the symbol of Canada’s oil boom the last decade, attracting some of the world’s biggest energy producers amid a rush to build megaprojects to extract nearby oil sands. Thanks to the influx of investment from producers such as Shell and Exxon Mobil, thousands flocked to “Fort McMoney” as the city spent millions building heated bus shelters, schools, bridges and hockey arenas to accommodate its rapidly growing and affluent population.

Thanks to the oil boom, Fort McMurray’s average household income hit C$186,782 (about $148,500) in 2013, the highest of any Canadian city. But since then, thousands of workers have been laid off due to the oil-price slump and according to the national statistics agency the town’s unemployment rate hit 9.8% in March, double the rate of five years ago.

Now, the town faces the grim task of rebuilding at a time when its biggest industry has been challenged by high extraction costs and low oil prices.

The premier of Alberta, Rachel Notley, on Wednesday expressed hope that Fort McMurray would rebound from the damage. “Our province is strong and we will get through this. Albertans have proven time and time again that when disaster strikes, we come together and we find the solutions and we get through it,” she said.

Like some 10,000 other displaced residents, the mayor of Fort McMurray, Melissa Blake, stayed overnight Tuesday at an oil-sands camp with her husband and another family, sharing a room with a single bed. “The reality is setting in about how significant and serious the loss is,” Ms. Blake told reporters. “We have been a community fighting an uphill battle for a long time in terms of the rate of changing growth that we’ve been experiencing.”

The evacuation is the largest in Alberta’s history, forcing residents in more than 12 northern communities including Fort McMurray to leave their homes, according to the Canadian Red Cross. The Red Cross set up a toll-free number to help evacuees connect with family members.

Across the province, many private citizens opened their homes to those fleeing the fires, officials said.

The rapid spread of the blaze has started to affect operations at major oil-sands productions sites. The oil-sands facilities aren’t directly threatened by the uncontrolled forest fires, but mandatory evacuations of workers have brought some operations to a halt.

PHOTOS – (see below)

Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s Canadian unit halted its oil-sands mining operations, which produce about 250,000 barrels a day, to speed evacuations of people who fled to the site, which is about 60 miles north of the fires. A spokesman didn’t provide an estimate for how long the shutdown is expected to last.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil producer, said late Tuesday that it reduced production at all of its oil-sands operations due to the forced evacuations. It also said that none of its operations were in the path of the forest fires. Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Canadian unit, Imperial Oil Ltd., said it was evacuating nonessential employees but that production hasn’t been affected “at this time,” according to a spokeswoman.

Inter Pipeline said it partially closed its 540,000 barrel-a-day Polaris pipeline system and its 346,000 barrel-a-day Corridor system. Related to Inter Pipeline’s moves, producer Husky Energy Inc. said it cut output at its Sunrise oil- sands plant by two-thirds, to 10,000 barrels a day.

Western Canadian Select, the benchmark Canadian heavy crude oil, traded Wednesday at $12.84 a barrel below the benchmark U.S. price, according to FactSet. That is the highest price relative to the U.S. price since March 1, with the price difference between the two contracts is 73 cents narrower than Tuesday.

Canada’s total oil sands production is around 2 million barrels a day, much of which is exported to the U.S.

The fires, which started late Sunday, spread from a forested area southwest of Fort McMurray and crossed the Athabasca River bisecting the town Monday. They began to threaten residential neighborhoods by midday Tuesday, prompting evacuations.

Officials said the town has been vacated by all but firefighting and public safety personnel, but first responders continued to check housing subdivisions and public buildings downtown for any remaining people, using door knocks, bullhorns and patrols by emergency vehicles. Dozens of pets left behind by their owners were taken to a local community center awaiting their owners, they said.

Traffic lines the highway as residents leave Fort McMurray on Tuesday. More than 80,000 residents were ordered to flee as a wildfire moved into the city, destroying whole neighborhoods
Traffic lines the highway as residents leave Fort McMurray on Tuesday. More than 80,000 residents were ordered to flee as a wildfire moved into the city, destroying whole neighborhoods PHOTO: JASON FRANSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Southbound traffic on Highway 63, the city’s main arterial road, resumed late Tuesday after being shut down earlier in the day as a precautionary measure due to the wildfires. An estimated 18,000 evacuees used the road to flee to Edmonton.


Photos: Alberta Wildfires Force Evacuation of Oil-Sands Hub

Town of Fort McMurray, Alberta, evacuated as uncontrolled forest fires spread through oil-sands region

Crystal Maltais prepares her family to leave Conklin, Alberta, for Lac La Biche after evacuating their home in Fort McMurray on Tuesday.
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer surveys the damage on a street in Fort McMurray, Alberta, on Wednesday. Forest fires continued to rage in the oil-rich province as a mandatory evacuation order for areas near the hub of the country’s oil-sands industry widened and key transportation routes remained closed.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers wear masks to protect themselves from smoke from nearby wildfires while directing traffic at a roadblock near Fort McMurray.
Wildfires burn near neighborhoods in Fort McMurray in this aerial photo provided by the Canadian Armed Forces.
Officers look on near Fort McMurray as smoke from the wildfires billows into the air on Wednesday.
Flames rise in Fort McMurray. Nearly 80,000 people in the area have been evacuated to shelters.
Strathcona County, Alberta firefighters take a break in Fort McMurray in this photo posted on Twitter on Thursday.
Evacuees from the Fort McMurray wildfires use the sleeping room at the "Bold Center" in Lac la Biche, Alberta, on Thursday.
An evacuee puts gas in his car on his way out of Fort McMurray.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley speaks to the media after visiting residents of Fort McMurray who had assembled in a community center in Anzac.
A helicopter, left, flies past thick smoke while battling a forest fire outside of Fort McMurray.
Volunteers help carry food into a community center in Anzac.
A wildfire moves towards the town of Anzac from Fort McMurray on Wednesday. Alberta declared a state of emergency Wednesday as crews frantically held back wind-whipped wildfires.
Long traffic lines formed Tuesday outside Fort McMurray as residents were forced to leave.
Crystal Maltais prepares her family to leave Conklin, Alberta, for Lac La Biche after evacuating their home in Fort McMurray on Tuesday.
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer surveys the damage on a street in Fort McMurray, Alberta, on Wednesday. Forest fires continued to rage in the oil-rich province as a mandatory evacuation order for areas near the hub of the country’s oil-sands industry widened and key transportation routes remained closed.

FORT MCMURRAY WILDFIRES: Could the tar sands mines erupt?

Repost from McLean’s
[See also The New Yorker, Fort McMurray & the Fires of Climate Change.  – RS]

Could the oil sands catch fire?

What if the wildfires raging in Fort McMurray hit the oil sands?

By Chris Sorensen, May 4, 2016
The Suncor oil sands facility seen from a helicopter near Fort McMurray, Alta. (Jeff McIntosh/CP)
The Suncor oil sands facility seen from a helicopter near Fort McMurray, Alta. (Jeff McIntosh/CP)

The wildfires ravaging Fort McMurray are well to the south of most oil sands projects, which is why several oil sands operators volunteered to use their work camps as shelter spaces for fleeing residents. But wildfires—and fires in general—are a constant occupational threat for anyone who works in the oil and gas business, and the oil sands are no different.

In their natural state, the oil sands themselves aren’t particularly flammable. Bitumen has the consistency of molasses at room temperature, and is mixed with sand, making it burn at a slower pace if ignited (plus, 80 per cent of it is buried deep underground). But the same can’t be said of all the equipment and chemical processes used to extract and upgrade that bitumen into synthetic crude oil. Companies that mine and upgrade oil sands bitumen rely on massive pieces of machinery, high temperatures and high pressures to do the dirty work—producing fuels and feedstock.

Related: Want to help those fleeing Fort McMurray? Here’s how.

A 2004 article in the U.S. National Fire Protection Association Journal offered a list of the potential fire risks faced by Suncor Energy, one of the oil sands’ biggest producers. It included: “hydrocarbon spill and pressure fires; storage tank fires; vapour cloud explosions; flammable gas fires; runaway exothermic reactions; and coke and sulfur fires.” The list continued by noting the fire potential posed by: “natural gas- and coke-fired electricity/steam generating plants; a large fleet of mining equipment; ore-processing and oil extraction plants; multi-story office buildings; fleets of tank trucks carrying combustible and hazardous commodities; and the wildlands and boreal forests that surround the facility.”

On that last point, Chelsie Klassen, a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, says oil sands companies have “had production reduced or shut in because of wildfires in the past.” But she said all operators have emergency teams in place to make sure workers are evacuated safely and fires are prevented from spreading beyond the facility.

And those soupy, bird-killing tailings ponds? “They’re not flammable,” Klassen says.

It may well be the only thing about an oil sands operation that isn’t.

FMFAQ
http://www.macleans.ca/tag/fort-mcmurray-faq/

 

Scientists say widespread wildfires can make global warming worse

Repost from the San Francisco Chronicle

Scientists say widespread wildfires can make global warming worse

Washington Post, October 20, 2015 7:26pm

 

Firefighters assess whether they can protect a property during a 2014 wildfire in Soldotna, Alaska. south of Anchorage. Photo: Rashah McChesney, Associated Press
Firefighters assess whether they can protect a property during a 2014 wildfire in Soldotna, Alaska. south of Anchorage. Photo: Rashah McChesney, Associated Press

In not much more than a month, leaders from around the world will assemble in Paris in order to — hopefully — find a way to cap the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and bring them down to safe levels.

But there’s a problem. There are some greenhouse gas sources that these leaders can’t fully control — and in some cases, reasons to think that these sources may grow in the future. The point is being driven home this year by raging peat fires in Indonesia, which have already contributed more than a billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions to the atmosphere — as much as Japan produces in a year from fossil fuels.

Indonesia isn’t the only part of the world where fires — which in many areas are expected to be worsened by climate change — could provide a new net source of emissions to the atmosphere. Another region of major worry is the world’s boreal or northern forests, which store a gigantic amount of carbon in trees as well as soils and frozen permafrost layers beneath the surface. Permafrost is a repository of carbon that has accumulated over many thousands of years, but could now be released back to the atmosphere on a much shorter time scale.

Alaska’s dramatic wildfire season this year — where more than 5 million acres of largely black spruce forests burned — raised great concerns about how events such as this could make global warming worse. The fear here is of a sort of triple whammy — forests release the carbon stored in trees back to the atmosphere when they burn; the forests contain a deep upper soil layer that also burns off, releasing more carbon; and finally, beneath all of that is the carbon rich permafrost, which becomes exposed after fires and can then thaw and start to emit.

And now, a new study in Nature Climate Change reaffirms these concerns about the emissions of northern fires. The study, led by Ryan Kelly of the University of Illinois at Urbana, looked at a particular Alaskan region that has seen intensive burning of late — the remote Yukon Flats. The researchers confirmed that the recent fires have been releasing much of the carbon that has been stored up over hundreds of years.

In addition, the researchers also determined that over time, change in fires patterns were by far the largest factor in how much carbon the ecosystem stored.

The new research reaffirms that fire is a powerful determinant of how much carbon resides in land, rather than in the air, across our globe.