Yahoo Finance Canada Wildfire: Convoy Moves Stranded Evacuees
A massive convoy is under way to move stranded evacuees southwards, with the police and the military overseeing the procession of up to 1,500 vehicles through Fort McMurray in Alberta.
By early evening on Friday around 1,200 vehicles had passed through Fort McMurray despite a one-hour interruption due to heavy smoke, authorities said.
Helicopters hovered overhead to alert motorists and the emergency services in the event of sudden changes in the fire's direction.
Television footage showed the smouldering remains of a large motor home park, and the blackened carcasses of cars consumed by the flames.
Jim Dunstan was in the convoy with his wife, Tracy, and two young sons.
"It was shocking to see the damaged cars all burned on the side of the road. It made you feel lucky to get out of there," he said.
Thousands more people have been airlifted from oil field camps to Edmonton, where temporary shelters and emergency operation centres have been set up.
An estimated 12,000 evacuees are being provided with food, clothes and somewhere to sleep in La Biche, a small town about 175 miles away from Fort McMurray.
Alberta's government has approved a payment of $1,250 Canadian dollars (£670) for every adult evacuated from Fort McMurray to help with their immediate needs, as well as $500 (£286) for every dependant.
More than 1,600 homes have been torched and approximately 90,000 people have left Fort McMurray so far as the wildfire thrived in unseasonably hot temperatures and windy conditions.
More than 1,100 firefighters are tackling the blaze, which now covers an area of 210,000 acres.
Managers overseeing the effort have warned the fire could burn "for a very long time" unless the area receives significant rainfall.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Canada's parliament: "Homes have been destroyed. Neighbourhoods have gone up in flames.
"The footage we've seen of cars racing down highways while fire races on all sides is nothing short of terrifying."
Canada may ask the US for help in tackling the uncontrollable wildfire, officials said.
Fort McMurray and surrounding areas have the third-largest reserves of oil in the world and global crude prices have gone up in recent days because production in the region has been shut down.
