Parts Of Canadian City In Oil Sands Region Evacuated As Wildfire Draws Near

This handout image released by Alberta Wildfire shows smoke columns going in multiple directions due to shifting winds in Fort McMurray Forest Area, Alberta, on May 13, 2024. Evacuations have been ordered in oil-producing Fort McMurray, Alberta on May 14. Authorities have been bracing for another possibly devastating wildfire season, after Canada's worst ever last year that saw flames burning from coast to coast and charring more than 15 million hectares (37 million acres) of land. (Credit: AFP)

Four neighborhoods of Fort McMurray, a city in Canada's major oil-producing region, were ordered evacuated Tuesday as an out of control wildfire drew near and thick smoke filled the skies.

Shifting winds gusting to 40 kilometers per hour (25 miles per hour) fanned the flames, scorching 9,600 hectares of surrounding forests as it advanced to within 13 kilometers (eight miles) of the city that had been gutted by wildfires in 2016 -- one of the biggest disasters in the nation's history.