Some some dramatic moments were captured on video in 2016, from Fort McMurray residents driving for their lives to a landscaper attacking a Global News cameraman.
These are some of our most dramatic videos of the 2016:
Fort McMurray burns
When wildfires engulfed Fort McMurray this spring, many residents recalled terrifying instances of close-calls with the spreading flames. Jason Edmonson filmed his experience above as he was evacuating his home and towards what looked like the gates of hell on the only north-south escape route in the area.
As Global News rushed to cover the breaking story, Global National correspondent Reid Fiest stood in front of a rapidly growing wildfire, only a few lanes away from him, and delivered a live report. The video landed on YouTube’s Top Trending videos in Canada this year.
Fireworks market explosion in Mexico
A massive, multicolored explosion decimated a fireworks market outside the Mexican capital on Dec. 20, leaving it a charred wasteland and killing at least 29 people with dozens more injured.
The detonations struck in the run-up to the busy Christmas holiday when many Mexicans stock up on fireworks.
“People were crying everywhere and desperately running in all directions,” said 20-year-old witness Cesar Carmona.
Toronto landscaper attacks Global News crew
When Global Toronto’s consumer reporter Sean O’Shea confronted a Toronto landscaper for work that a client claimed he did not do, Carmelo Lamanna bolted. Lamanna grabbed O’Shea’s microphone, tipped over a waste can and attacked cameraman Rick Helinski. Watch the dramatic encounter unfold above.
Harambe the gorilla shot to death after grabbing, dragging child
A special zoo response team shot and killed a gorilla that grabbed and dragged a four-year-old boy who fell into a moat at the Cincinnati Zoo. Harambe’s death sparked what would later become a viral meme.
Zoo Director Thane Maynard said the zoo’s dangerous animal response team decided the boy was in “a life-threatening situation” and that they needed to put down the 400-pound-plus male gorilla.
The screams and gasps as bystanders watched Harmabe drag the boy around emphasized the gravity of the situation that ended in the loss of the 17-year-old primate, but the recovery of the toddler.
Toddler crying as overdosed mom lies on shop floor
Disturbing video that surfaced in September showed a toddler in Massachusetts crying after its mother collapsed from a suspected drug overdose.
The footage shows the 36-year-old woman lying unconscious at a dollar store while her two-year-old cries and pulls on her arm.
Emergency services were called and the woman was revived with Narcan. The child was taken into protective care after the woman was charged with child endangerment.
WARNING: This video contains graphic images which are not suitable for all viewers. Discretion is advised.
Days after the terror attacks in Nice, France that claimed the lives of at least 84 people, amateur video surfaced of the moment a truck plowed into the crowds celebrating Bastille Day.
The video shows crowds gathered for a music concert on the promenade, panning right to a glimpse of the truck veering left to right as it drives towards the camera. People scream and scatter.
The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. In September, Paris prosecutors said eight suspects linked to attacker Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhel had been arrested.
Great white shark crashes through diving cage
In one of the most heart-stopping videos that surfaced this year, a great white shark broke into a diving cage in Mexico, with a diver still inside.
The three-metre long shark was mistakenly lured into the cage by some bait that was being dangled into the water by a crew member.
The shark seems to have broken a rail meant to protect divers and thrashed its way out through the top of the cage.
The diver came out of the incident unharmed.
Construction crane collapses in New York City
A massive construction crane collapsed in New York City in February, killing one person and injuring three others.
It came crashing down in the lower Manhattan neighbourhood Tribeca, crushing several vehicles. A witness described the crane as stretching across two city blocks.
According to the city’s mayor, the crane was being moved into a secure position due to high winds when it collapsed.
Woman mauled to death by tiger in Beijing
Security cameras in a Beijing wildlife park caught the horrifying moment a woman was mauled to death by Siberian tigers this summer.
A tiger pounced on one woman after she got out of a private car in which she was touring the Beijing Badaling Wildlife World, the Legal Evening News reported.
The second woman was killed by another tiger that leapt at her after she stepped out of the vehicle to try to help the woman who was being dragged away, the report said.
Visitors are allowed to drive their own vehicles around the park, but are forbidden from getting out their cars while touring certain enclosures.
– with files from Reuters, the Associated Press, Adam Frisk, Andrew Russell