Evacuation orders continue Thursday in Alberta after shifting weather patterns fueled a raging wildfire that threatened several communities outside of Fort McMurray, including the town of Anzac, where evacuees of the oilsands city were staying in emergency accommodations.
Late Wednesday night, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo issued a mandatory evacuation order of Anzac, Gregoire Lake Estates and Fort McMurray First Nation, just one day after more than 80,000 people were forced from their homes in Fort McMurray.
Displaced residents had taken refuge at the Anzac Recreation Centre, about 50 kilometres south of Fort McMurray.
A provincial state of an emergency was declared Wednesday as the raging inferno continued to wreak havoc in Fort McMurray and surrounding communities.
The emergency operations centre in Long Lake was forced to move for the second time as the fire threatened the area. It first moved in the early afternoon from Fort McMurray to Long Lake (near Anzac), and was later forced 245 kilometres south to Lac La Biche.
In an interview with Global’s Dawna Friesen, Premier Rachel Notley said the declaration allows the province to make “inter-jurisdictional decisions between municipalities” and to order evacuations as necessary.
“Our message to all Albertans is that the government is behind the people of Fort McMurray and that for Albertans who wish to help, the first thing they should do is contact the Red Cross and offer donations, and additional opportunities for people to support the people of Fort McMurray will come forward,” the premier said.
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