Thousands of people have been airlifted to safety from the wildfires raging through Canada’s Alberta province after the flames threatened to engulf the makeshift camps opened to house them, as officials warned that the blaze could soon double in size.
The emergency measure was ordered after the inferno that has already devastated the city of Fort McMurray and forced its 80,000 residents to flee spread north, encroaching on an area where 25,000 evacuees had set up camp.
As more than 1,100 firefighters battled to douse 49 separate fires, a mass vehicle convoy of evacuees - overseen by a phalanx of police helicopters - passed through Fort McMurray, large sections of which resembled a war zone.
Police and military will oversee another procession of hundreds of vehicles, and the mass airlift of evacuees will also resume. A day after 8,000 people were flown out, authorities said 5,500 more were expected to be evacuated by the end of Friday and another 4,000 on Saturday.
Chad Morrison, an official with the Alberta government wildfire unit, told reporters in the provincial capital Edmonton, about 270 miles (430 km) to the south, the blaze was likely to double in size by late on Saturday, the end of its first week.
The road convoy operation, involving an estimated 1,500 vehicles, was authorised after firefighters judged that the blaze in the immediate area of Fort McMurray had been bought under control.
The flames have spread a much wider area than when the evacuation of Fort McMurray began on Tuesday. Seven of the fires still burning were said to be out of control, aided by high winds and warm, dry conditions.
"Things have calmed down in the city a little bit but … the beast is still up, it’s surrounding the city,” Darby Allen, the local fire chief, said in a video message to residents.
Chad Morrison, Alberta's manager of wildfire prevention, said only rain could stop the inferno.
"Let me be clear: air tankers are not going to stop this fire," he said. "It is going to continue to push through these dry conditions until we actually get some significant rain.”
Weather forecasters said there was a 40 per cent chance of rain over the weekend.
Officials have said there is little chance of Fort McMurray residents being able to return soon. Some 1,600 homes and buildings in the city are believed to have been destroyed.
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, said the area looked “like a war-torn corner of the world instead of our own backyard”.
'We know what they're going through,' say Canada's Syrian refugees helping fire victims
Rita Khanchet is among a group of Syrian refugees who are pitching in to help those affected by the fire.
They have been using the Syrian Refugee Support Group page on Facebook a rallying point for Syrians to offer donations of clothing and good.
The group has also appealed for a donation of five Canadian dollars from every Syrian refugee in Canada who can spare the money, with a view to buy hygiene products for those who have been displaced by the fire and are now living in camps.
“It’s not easy to lose everything. We can understand them more than anyone in Canada. We were in the same situation,” Ms Khanchet told the Calgary Herald.
“Me and my family wanted to do something for these people. Canadian society helped us when we came to Canada.”
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