Fort McMurray, Alberta, the center of Canadian oil-sands crude production, was evacuated on May 5, when a wildfire swept through the city’s outlying forests and through the streets, destroying more than 2,400 structures. It is a particularly devastating blow to a city that has lost thousands of jobs and endured dramatic economic hardship during the past 18 months, following a precipitous plunge in oil prices. The fire touched off the largest forced evacuation in Canadian history, displacing almost 90,000 residents.
“The town was suffering already,” says Douglas Worobetz, board chairman of the Alberta Building Trades and manager of the Sheet Metal Workers International Association Local 8, in Edmonton. “Most of the oil production had to be shut down— hundreds of millions [of dollars’] worth of losses. It just couldn’t come at a worse time.”