May 09 – 2016 - In the past week, fast-spreading wildfires have burned over 350,000 acres of Fort McMurray, a boom town in the center for Canada’s oil sands region in Alberta.

Homes and businesses have been charred, leaving the streets filled with smoke and ash. Cars and trucks jammed the one route out of the city, Highway 63, as the entire population — about 88,000 residents — were forced to evacuate their homes.
The walls of flames driven by powerful winds rage on, though cooler weather and light showers are helping firefighters in their suppression efforts. While the cause of the fire that began in the woodlands outside Fort McMurray is unknown, debates have developed over whether climate change is a contributing factor in this disaster.
John Innes, dean of the University of British Columbia’s faculty of forestry and Forest Renewal B.C.’s chair of forest management, examines the damage and the link between climate change and wildfires.