This will take you to You Tube where you can see several videos of the devestation. The news this morning said the fire is expected to double in size. If you're in the US it's already the size of San Diego. In Canada, the size of Calgary.

Weather Network news story from last night. If you scroll down you'll see photos of the aftermath.

I have friends that were evacuated-then as it spread north to where they were,they had to run again-they are now in Edmonton,heading for Sask......

It's terrible. I just messaged my husbands cousin. They've been in Edmonton since Tuesday and are coming to stay at a campground on the west end of the city. They are lucky in that they have a beautiful trailer to stay in, and so far their house has not burned down. But it'll take forever once the fires are out, to be able to move back home. They left with a small suitcase with a little bit of clothes, photos and important papers. Their best friend and his niece were killed in a car accident fleeing the fire. The niece was one of 3 triplets.

They are saying now that the fire could double in size by tonight. Everyone says they need rain. I think they need snow! This fire is making its own weather, by causing lightening strikes! If they get rain they could get more lightening. They need snow. Lots of it. While we do enjoy this unseasonably hot weather, it sure isn't doing the province any good right now. I believe there are over 45 fires burning now in this province alone. There is a province wide fire ban (although the city of Calgary only has theirs set to be careful but we can have a firepit burning). I'm just amazed that the smoke hasn't come down this way. I could smell forest fire smoke on Thursday but just briefly. With this many fires burning and the wind coming from the north, we should be covered in it. But the sky is clear and blue this morning.

My understanding is most of the wind is blowing south which means it's flowing from the south to the north.

debbie - I saw that accident on the news. How heartbreaking.

It's absolutely horrific. There's just a slight chance of rain, and not enough to do anything. High winds and temperatures.

There've been good and bad incidents. A lot of good things......companies and businesses and even our banks donating money and items. Labatt's made and shipped 200,000 cans of water instead of beer. Strangers filling up evacuees tanks, and one unscrupulous business was charging $15/litre. Despicable.

All of our stores are asking people to donate money (we added extra to our grocery bill yesterday), and people are helping the animal rescue organizations; giving crates, food, blankets to people who were able to take their pets.

One of the airlines allowed people to take their pets.

I posted a link to some videos the other day. My 2 nieces (in their early 20's) have been evacuated, they are staying with friends in Lac la Biche and Edmonton. One of my cousins has lost his house. I have dozens of cousins in Fort Mac. It's a terrible situation.

Everyone is in my prayers. Devastating.And so scary.

A tragedy.

What was the population here before the fracking? Was it a forest? A plain? I've heard about fires in this region for decades, but not such devastation to humans.

I've been following it on the news. So awful, and so hard to grasp . . . all those people with no place to go home. Not even a town.

Kudos to that airline for allowing people to bring their pets.

Sorry for getting the industry wrong. How does the oil sands extraction affect the soil -- and the timber? What's been the impact of buildings and services for a soaring population? (34,000 in my 2001 atlas; 116,000 in 2014)

Is it just a freak of nature that everything is so dry? Is this forest fire different from other, 'normal' forest fires in northern Alberta? Is there anything unique about the circumstances -- aside from the need to rescue so many people?

I'm wondering if there's a way to avoid this disaster in the future. If people return to rebuild amidst this desolation, will the forest regenerate, or is everything changed forever?

An aerial view of the city of Fort McMurray, aftermath.

chisue, I have no idea how the oil is extracted from the sand. While land does get ruined by the process, each major company replants all the trees that they have taken down so the forest will come back, although it takes time.

We've had an extremely warm dry Winter/Spring this year. To have temps in the high 20's, even reaching 29 in the Fort on Monday/Tuesday, is almost unheard of. We've had very little snow here in Calgary, I'm not sure about up there. It's about a 7-8 hour drive from us.

The forest will come back. But like any forest fire, it will take years to come back. It's nature doing what nature does. We had El Nino this year and with that comes unseasonably warmer weather, but this is much warmer than I've seen. This fire may take months to go out completely. And it's growing. Not as much as they predicted, but it's growing. The premier said it may not take as long for evacuee's to return home as first thought as 80% of the city was saved. The infrastructure is looking really good: police, airport, hospital and most buildings survived. But gas, power and water needs to be repaired first.

It looks like another huge fire is burning in Manitoba as well. I haven't read too much about it so I'm not sure if it's near a city or town but people are probably going to be evacuated there too. The problem with the Ft Mac fire is it's threatening a city. Most forest fires are out in the bush and rarely comes close to burning town cities or towns.

The latest news report I see in Wisconsin is that Canadian Officials fear the fire will move into Saskatchewan. Its headed that way. The fire fighters are exhausted and not making much dent in that wind driven fire. Its a huge inferno. They estimate it would take at least a 4 inch rain to damp down the fire.

I hope that home owners fire insurance holds up. Its a costly one.

I'm sure insured home owners will do fine. Alberta Disaster Services will also be involved, I'm sure. When my sister in law lost her house in the floods 3 years ago, the government began helping her with home repairs putting over $80,000 into her home. Then the mayor of High River decided to tear down the neighbourhood she lived in. The city bought her house and land for what the city accessed her homes worth. It's been 3 years, and the $ wasn't enough to cover her mortgage! She still has to pay the remainder to the bank and doesn't have the house. It was the Mennonite Society who built her a new home, mortgage free, completely furnished. She didn't see a dime of Red Cross money either. Not a dime! It's why I refuse to donate to the Red Cross. My children and I put together money because she literally only had the clothes on her back and nothing to change into when she fled the city from the flooding. It wasn't a heck of a lot, but she was able to buy a change of clothes for both her and her son. He packed his playstation..... Priorities of a 12 year old. LOL

NBC News coverage has disturbing images.

this is the worst type of oil extraction and sadly it was starting to get so close to the river here in Detroit, we finally went up in arms against the good lo Koch bothers....here are some of the pictures of the mountains of the stuff...

https://www.google.com/search?q=detroit+oil+sands+coke&biw=1356&bih=665&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiax76QqMzMAhUEVD4KHc4iDxoQsAQIIw#imgrc=6-D5nP5WbY2ApM%3A

And through the link above, I found this explanation of how the oil is extracted from the sand: http://www.businessinsider.com/canadian-oil-sands-flyover-2012-5?op=1

They just said on the national news that the fires are expected to go on for MONTHS!!! This is so sad and very scary!

Yes, we've heard that for a few days now. What they need is about a foot of snow.... They got a little rain yesterday, but it really didn't do a lot of good. If anything, it just slowed down the spread of the fire. Only Mother Nature will be able to put it out now. Turns out, only 10% of the buildings in the Fort were burned to the ground! That's terrific news! They're already talking about when people will be able to go back home. But repairs to gas and electricity have to be made first.