image: The Fort McMurray wildfire hazard has been deemed "extreme" by the Alberta Agriculture and Forestry website. This wildfire in the Fort McMurray area of Alberta remains out of control and has burned approximately 7,686 hectares (almost 19,000 acres) in a heavily populated area. There is a critical alert in place with all of Fort McMurray now evacuated. Alberta Emergency Alert has issued mandatory evacuation for the City of Fort McMurray. Evacuation information can be found at http://emergencyalert.alberta.ca/alerts/2016/05
There are firefighters, aircraft and heavy equipment working on the wildfire and more resources are on their way however high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds continue to fuel the fire. The image shows the area almost completely obliterated by the clouds of smoke rising from the fire.
This natural-color satellite image was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on May 3, 2016.
Credit: NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner with information from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry website, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo site, and the Alberta Wildfire Info official facebook page.