I'm following this too. It went bad with frightening speed.

Fort Mc is surrounded by boreal forest, spruce and pine. It's Crown (public) land, so it's not intensely managed. Crews have been gearing up a month earlier than usual, anticipating a bad fire season.

Conditions are incredibly hot and dry throughout Alberta this spring. (I'm 500 km south of Fort Mc, and we're under full fire bans everywhere around here.)

After a calm night, the temperature hit 32C, humidity 15%. The winds came up and shifted direction, allowing the fire to jump the fire breaks and two rivers. Under these conditions, fires make up their own rules.

I doubt many people are well prepared for evacuation. An event of this scale and speed is very rare and outside of their experience. Northerners are a resilient lot, but this is bad business.