Fort McMurray, Alberta - Insane Wildfire (1 Viewer)

[Borden]

What happens when the fire reaches the tar sands?

I have no idea. I assume it would something like a coal fire. 

If it reaches the Suncor base plant. Bad things. Very very bad things. Suncor is the southern most operation so it is likely the first to be hit. I believe Suncor has a hydrogen furnace. There's just lots of toxic and flammable things to burn and pressure vessels that could explode.

 

[beer 30]

I have no idea. I assume it would something like a coal fire. 

If it reaches the Suncor base plant. Bad things. Very very bad things. Suncor is the southern most operation so it is likely the first to be hit. I believe Suncor has a hydrogen furnace. There's just lots of toxic and flammable things to burn and pressure vessels that could explode.

"Okay, so the scariest environment imaginable. Thanks. That's all you gotta say, scariest environment imaginable."

Thanks, glad your safe. The location my company had up there is gone.

 

[Borden]

"Okay, so the scariest environment imaginable. Thanks. That's all you gotta say, scariest environment imaginable."

Thanks, glad your safe. The location my company had up there is gone.

Sorry to hear that. Is your company big enough to endure the loss until insurance kicks in?

 

[beer 30]

Yea, it was a new equipment rental store for us, Sunbelt Rentals. Just opened in November so wasn't fully stocked. Just glad everyone got out of town ok, amazing to evacuate that many people with hardly any loss of life.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Those in the know, are we in the U.S. helping out.  As far as I know we are still a week or so out from the beginning of our fire season.  I hope we have moved a lot of equipment temporarily to this task until we need it back.

I heard on the news last week that they were moving a 747 framed aircraft capable of something like 30,000 pounds of fire ######ant a drop out here to the Denver area.  Supposed to be the biggest tanker for fire fighting in the U.S. arsenal.  It would be nice if we were breaking that bad boy and its crews in by helping our neighbors.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/colorado-springs-area/colorado-based-tanker-jet-to-provide-global-wildfire-relief

Here it is.

Seems like we should be doing what we can.

 

[northern exposure]

Yea, it was a new equipment rental store for us, Sunbelt Rentals. Just opened in November so wasn't fully stocked. Just glad everyone got out of town ok, amazing to evacuate that many people with hardly any loss of life.

Wow.I thought the Sunbelt location was pretty well stocked. They were in behind a Hertz Truck and Car Rental location and there was green equipment as far as the eye could see. They had some competitors in the area pretty concerned. 

The only loss of life I heard about was an accident on a secondary highway that involved a SUV and a semi. There were two fatalities. 

 

[Borden]

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/colorado-springs-area/colorado-based-tanker-jet-to-provide-global-wildfire-relief

Here it is.

Seems like we should be doing what we can.

Last I heard they have so many helicopters and planes in the air that they can't safely fly anymore. Water bombers are in a constant cycle of non stop runs where there are all lined up. 

That tanker seems better BA though. 

 

[Righetti]

When oil fell at the end of 2014 our management told us that $43-$46 was the sweet spot. That specifically at my site and was before all the cost cutting. Just prior to this fire Suncor had announced the cost per barrel across the entire company is around $27 but that is company wide. I would expect my area (tar sands base plant) to be somewhere in the 30s. 

The in general the low prices have crushed the economy in the city. Lots of people have been laid off. Those that have stayed are overloaded with work and have all their hours cut back. Housing prices have tanked. 

The tar sands oil isn't a pure/clean as oil in the Middle East but it makes up for this in a couple ways. It's all in one spot so long term industrial infrastructure pays for itself. Drilling rigs aren't guaranteed to always hit, where as the oil sand is. All the other stuff in the oil produced up here is removed and either sold (map gas, propane, etc) or used in the process (diesel for the heavy haulers). Suncor specifically, has long term deals with companies to protect against unstable oil markets and it also owns PetroCanada, which is one of the major gas station chains in Canada. As for transportation, it is an issue (trucks) right now but there's 3 purposed pipelines, Keystone, western Canada and eastern Canada.

As for the fire, my bosses have already been in contact with me about going back up. We were at the tail end of a shutdown, so when we go back we should be able to button everything up and have full production for a while the dust settles. Maybe a week to 10 days of lost production.

Let me know if you I missed what you were asking.

 thanks for the info.  I have heard about similar layoffs and housing market crashes elsewhere related to oil.  The Bakken area for example was playing like $22/hour for McDonald's workers before the price drop, they didn't get enough good people but with price drop and subsequent layoffs it had to be a different story

 

[Smack Tripper]

Well timed post. Just swinging in to give and update. Flight left at about 4:30 am. Got back and went to sleep. I'm safe and gone, as is everyone I've talked to. I don't know anyone who's family is all from Fort McMurray so most are going "home" and are scattered across the country now.

Thank you all for the kind words. 

glad you're safe buddy... true best wishes and good vibes to you and yours in the region

 

[beer 30]

I have no idea. I assume it would something like a coal fire. 

If it reaches the Suncor base plant. Bad things. Very very bad things. Suncor is the southern most operation so it is likely the first to be hit. I believe Suncor has a hydrogen furnace. There's just lots of toxic and flammable things to burn and pressure vessels that could explode.

So the fire is advancing north now from the reports I hear and one of the camps that was in the line of fire to be evacuated was Suncor. It's heresay in our office so checking in with you to see what's really going on up there. Any updates Borden?

 

[Borden]

So the fire is advancing north now from the reports I hear and one of the camps that was in the line of fire to be evacuated was Suncor. It's heresay in our office so checking in with you to see what's really going on up there. Any updates Borden?

I flew up last Saturday. Worked Sunday, Monday. Tuesday we were evacuated again. I was in a northern camp and was relatively safe. The Suncor camps that you likely heard about were Borealis and Millienium. This is were my vehicle is. And yes the fires is/was(?) close and it was evacuated. The Blacksands camp that burnt down was where we stayed during the first evacuation.  

The pictures that look like Mars is what it looked like the Monday when I was at work. It was sunny and nice 1pm. At 2 it looked like Mars. At 3 it looked like the middle of the night. 

My place was safe last I heard but there's been explosions and fires basically in a triangle around my place. 5 lost to the north, 10 to the southwest, 2 plus damage to others to the southeast. I heard that some of the new fires are because of the gas lines starting up. I've also heard that it's arson. 

I have not received anything from my company about when we are going back. I think the failed attempt to bring us back last time was expensive. So they'll likely be keeping away until there's more certainty that the fire is in a safe place or out. 

That is about as good as an update I can give. This is obviously a short hand version of this chaos and nothing went as smoothly as the single sentence description but most of my information comes from the news now too. 

 

[Rodrigo Duterte]

Brutal.  Nice work Borden.  Not so nice work with some of the earlier replies here.

 

[beer 30]

I flew up last Saturday. Worked Sunday, Monday. Tuesday we were evacuated again. I was in a northern camp and was relatively safe. The Suncor camps that you likely heard about were Borealis and Millienium. This is were my vehicle is. And yes the fires is/was(?) close and it was evacuated. The Blacksands camp that burnt down was where we stayed during the first evacuation.  

The pictures that look like Mars is what it looked like the Monday when I was at work. It was sunny and nice 1pm. At 2 it looked like Mars. At 3 it looked like the middle of the night. 

My place was safe last I heard but there's been explosions and fires basically in a triangle around my place. 5 lost to the north, 10 to the southwest, 2 plus damage to others to the southeast. I heard that some of the new fires are because of the gas lines starting up. I've also heard that it's arson. 

I have not received anything from my company about when we are going back. I think the failed attempt to bring us back last time was expensive. So they'll likely be keeping away until there's more certainty that the fire is in a safe place or out. 

That is about as good as an update I can give. This is obviously a short hand version of this chaos and nothing went as smoothly as the single sentence description but most of my information comes from the news now too. 

Thanks for the update, stay safe.

We're seven 2 of our remediation & restoration trailers up there packed with dehumidifiers & carpet fans to start working on the cleanup. Assuming we ever get clearance to go back to Ft. Mac. I did find out our location up there survived the fire somehow. It must have went around us in a circle almost.

 

[Borden]

Thanks for the update, stay safe.

We're seven 2 of our remediation & restoration trailers up there packed with dehumidifiers & carpet fans to start working on the cleanup. Assuming we ever get clearance to go back to Ft. Mac. I did find out our location up there survived the fire somehow. It must have went around us in a circle almost.

I think the fire fighters are a big reason what there was a circle around your place. 

Notley is saying June first but I highly doubt that. The hospital has to be brought back to full sterilization from the smoke. And it's still weeks away. Plus, there's burnt power lines hanging down and roads, etc. Utility workers keep getting evacuated too.

As for us going to work, a lot is going to depend on the fire location. I don't think anyone knows. There were rumours but I got an official call at 1:30 on Friday afternoon saying I would be going up the next day at and to be at the airport for 10am. 

Glad to hear your place is okay. That's the main thing for now I guess. 

 

[beer 30]

I think the fire fighters are a big reason what there was a circle around your place.

I'm a big action/war movie guy but I would love to see a movie made about these guys fighting this monster. Saving the emergency service apparatus and the hospital has to have been some heroic ####. God bless em, dudes get overlooked too much for laying it on the line like they do. Place has to be like a war zone.

 

[Borden]

I'm a big action/war movie guy but I would love to see a movie made about these guys fighting this monster. Saving the emergency service apparatus and the hospital has to have been some heroic ####. God bless em, dudes get overlooked too much for laying it on the line like they do. Place has to be like a war zone.

Hell yeah. I shouldn't say this but if it turns out there is an arson running around, wow. That's a crazy movie. Especially with the orange day. 

My buddy is with Edmonton Fire and his captain went up. Said it's nuts. They're up there to help with the structure fires. Helicoptering in some days. People were stuck on the highway, honking and waving at them when they drove in. And then an empty city. Until they got to the huge fires. 

Lots of great stories and horrible ones too. No loss of life outside a car crash.