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Fires burn at the edge of the road as evacuating motorists flee Fort McMurray on May 3. There were long lines on highways out of the city of 61,000 people as frantic residents fled the blaze, and oilsands work camps were pressed into service as emergency shelters.

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Entire City Flees Raging Wildfire in Canada

The province of Alberta was under a state of emergency as crews frantically battled an intense wildfire.

/ 27 PHOTOS
Image: CANADA-FORESTFIRES-FIRE-FORESTS-OIL-EVACUATION

A convoy of evacuees drives south as flames and smoke rise along the highway near Fort McMurray, Alberta on May 6. 

Displaced residents at oil field camps north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, got a sobering drive-by view of their burned out city Friday in a convoy that moved evacuees south amid a massive wildfire that officials fear could double in size by the end of Saturday. As police and military oversaw the procession of hundreds of vehicles, a mass airlift of evacuees also resumed.

— Cole Burston / AFP - Getty Images
Image: CANADA-FIRE-FORESTS-OIL-EVACUATION-emergency

Pam Borges carries her son Max, 4, between portable homes at Canada North Camp Wandering River Lodge in Wandering River, Alberta, on May 7. The camp, currently home to near 400 people, is a refuge for many fleeing the forest fires in Fort McMurray.
— Cole Burston / AFP - Getty Images
Image:

A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is silhouetted by the setting sun as he is surrounded in smoke from wildfires south of Fort McMurray, Alberta, on Highway 63 on May 6.

Investigators have not figured out what sparked the wildfires that erupted in the heart of Canada's oil sands region on Sunday and have so far forced 88,000 people to flee. 

— Jonathan Hayward / Canadian Press via AP
Image: People wait at a roadblock as smoke rises from wildfires near Fort McMurray

People wait at a roadblock as smoke rises from wildfires near Fort McMurray on May 6.
— Chris Wattie / Reuters
Image: The wildfires glow underneath The Northern Lights

The wildfires glow underneath the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, near Fort McMurray early on May 7. Auroral activity is sparked by the interaction of Earth's magnetosphere with electrically-charged particles from the sun.
— Mark Blinch / Reuters
Image: Fire in Fort McMurray

A member of a helicopter squadron of the Canadian Armed Forces flies over the wildfires in the area of Fort McMurray, Alberta, on May 5.

 

— Canadian Armed Forces via EPA
Image: Wildfire in Fort McMurray

A giant cloud of smoke hangs over Highway 63 south of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, on May 5.

— Canadian Armed Forces via EPA
Image: Wildfire Engulfs Fort McMurray Forcing Evacuations Of 80,000 People

The swings are burned away from a swing set on May 6 in a residential neighborhood in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
— Scott Olson / Getty Images
Image: Wildfire Engulfs Fort McMurray Forcing Evacuations Of 80,000 People

Home foundations and the shells of vehicles are nearly all that remain on May 6 in a residential neighborhood destroyed by a wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
— Scott Olson / Getty Images
Image: Smoke billows from the Fort McMurray wildfires as a truck drives down the highway in Kinosis

Smoke billows from the Fort McMurray wildfires as a truck drives down the highway in Kinosis, Alberta, Canada, May 5.

— MARK BLINCH / Reuters
Image: A Mountie surveys the damage on a street in Fort McMurray.

A Canadian police officer surveys the damage on a street in Fort McMurray, Alberta, on May 5, 2016. 

The wildfires raging through the Canadian province of Alberta have grown into a behemoth blaze that has consumed an area bigger than New York City.

— RCMP Alberta
Image: A Canadian Joint Operations Command aerial photo shows wildfires in Fort McMurray Alberta Canada

Wildfires burn in Fort McMurray in this image posted on Twitter on May 5.

The fires in the province of Alberta have forced 88,000 people to flee and destroyed more than 1,600 structures.

— Canadian Joint Operations Command via Reuters
A massive wildfire engulfs Fort McMurray on May 5 after 88,000 people evacuated the area.

A massive wildfire engulfs Fort McMurray on May 5 after 88,000 people evacuated the area.

— Jim Seida / NBC News
Image: Evacuees from the Fort McMurray wildfires use the sleeping room at the \"Bold Center\" in Lac la Biche

Evacuees from the Fort McMurray wildfires use the sleeping room at the "Bold Center" in Lac la Biche, Alberta, on May 5.

— MARK BLINCH / Reuters
Image: CANADA-FORESTFIRES-FIRE-FORESTS-OIL-EVACUATION

Marlee Hildebrandt and her daughter Oakley Hildebrandt, 2, clean cots at a makeshift evacuee center in Lac la Biche, Alberta on May 5, after fleeing forest fires north of Fort McMurray.

— COLE BURSTON / AFP - Getty Images
Image: CANADA-FIRE-FOREST-OIL-EVACUATION

A plume of smoke hangs in the air as a forest fires rage in the distance in Fort McMurray, Alberta on May 4.

 

— COLE BURSTON / AFP - Getty Images
Image: Wildfire in Fort McMurray

Burned trees line the roadside after a wildfire raged through the town of Fort McMurray, on Highway 63 to Edmonton, Canada, on May 4.

There were no official reports of casualties. 

— Jerome Garot / Twitter via EPA
Image:

A helicopter flies past the wildfire in Fort McMurray on May 4.

— Jason Franson / The Canadian Press via AP
Image: Wildfire in Fort McMurray

Smoke clouds move in the direction of an evacuation center set up at Anzac Recreation Center in Anzac, Canada, on May 4.

— Yonis Libah / Twitter via EPA
Image: Alberta fire

An evacuee puts gas in his car on his way out of Fort McMurray, Alberta, as the wildfire burns in the background on May 4.

— Jason Franson / The Canadian Press via AP
Image: Evacuees

Evacuees arrive by bus at at evacuation center at the Expo Center in Edmonton, Alberta, on May 4.
— Codie McLachlan / Canadian Press via AP
Image:

Traffic lines the highway as residents leave Fort McMurray on May 3. More than 80,000 residents were ordered to flee as a wildfire moved into the city, destroying whole neighborhoods.
— JASON FRANSON / The Canadian Press via AP
Image: Flames rise in Industrial area south Fort McMurray Alberta Canada

Flames rise in an industrial area south of Fort McMurray on May 3.

Firefighters from across Canada were being mobilized to aid in the fight.

— CBC NEWS / Reuters
Fires burn at the edge of the road as evacuating motorists flee Fort McMurray on May 3. There were long lines on highways out of the city of 61,000 people as frantic residents fled the blaze, and oilsands work camps were pressed into service as emergency shelters.

Fires burn at the edge of the road as evacuating motorists flee Fort McMurray on May 3. There were long lines on highways out of the city as frantic residents fled the blaze, and oilsands work camps were pressed into service as emergency shelters.

 

— Jerome Garot via Instagram
Evacuating motorists flees a 10,000-square-mile wildfire on May 3, 2016, near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. The entire population of the Canadian oil city of Fort McMurray was evacuated overnight as authorities battled an out-of-control wildfire that was likely to worsen again Wednesday.

Evacuating motorists flee a 10,000-square-mile wildfire on May 3, 2016, near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. The entire population of the Canadian oil city of Fort McMurray was evacuated overnight as authorities battled an out-of-control wildfire.

— Tyler Fillywich via Instagram
Image: Residents of Fort McMurray assemble in Conklin, Alta. after their city of 62,000 was evacuated due to raging wildfires

Fort McMurray resident Crystal Maltais buckles in her daughter, Mckennah Stapley, as they prepare to leave Conklin, Alberta, for Lac La Biche after evacuating their home in Fort McMurray on May 3.

— TOPHER SEGUIN / Reuters
Image: Wildfire in Fort McMurray

The raging wildfire in Fort McMurray threatens to engulf fleeing motorists on May 3.

— Jerome Garot / Twitter via EPA
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