Fort McMurray, Alberta Canada. The tar sands boom is going down in flames; going up in smoke. The fire, which started May 1, 2016, has burned 156,000 hectares, which is 15.6 million acres, 602 square miles or 1,560 square kilometers.
As is evident in the image the flames are taller than the trees.
These numbers are abstract. In comparison; Brooklyn, NY is 96.9 square miles and 251 km2. The fire is roughly the six times the size of Brooklyn. Or the size of six (actually 6.2) Brooklyns. The fire is 14.8 times larger than Paris. It’s roughly 2.6 times the size of San Francisco, 20% larger than LA, 30% larger than NYC.
At the time of this writing, it is slightly smaller than Greater London, which is 607 square miles or 1,572 square kilometers.
| Ft McMurray Fire Compared to | |||
| Place | Sq miles | Sq km | Fire is |
| The Fire | 602.2 | 1,560.0 | |
| Central Park | 1.3 | 3.4 | 461 x larger |
| Brooklyn | 96.9 | 251.0 | 6.2 x larger |
| NYC | 468.9 | 1,214.0 | 30% larger |
| LA | 502.69 | 1,302.0 | 20% larger |
| San Fran | 231.89 | 600.6 | 2.6 x larger |
| Rhode Island | 1,212 | 3,140 | 50% larger |
| Greater London | 606.95 | 1,572.0 | same size |
| Paris | 40.7 | 105.4 | 15 x larger |
| Table 1 | |||
And the fire is growing. According to The Globe and Mail, Canada, (here) and the CBC (here) the fire could double in size and may take months to extinguish.
This animation (courtesy RCI Net, Canada) shows it’s growth from Sunday, May 1 thru Thursday, May 4.
Canada’s oil industry may be going up in smoke.
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A co-founder of Popular Logistics, I hold a BS and an MBA in “Managing for Sustainability” from Marlboro College, and over 20 years experience in Information Technology. Available as a speaker and consultant, I can be reached at “Popular Logistics . com” as “L Furman.”