Raging Wildfire in Canada Chasing Residents From Homes

May 4, 2016
About 60,000 residents have evacuated as the blaze has destroyed homes and businesses.

Montreal -- A wildfire in western Canada has forced around 60,000 people to flee their homes and continues to rage out of control, Canadian broadcaster CBC said on Wednesday.

The town of Fort McMurray in Alberta has been entirely evacuated after the fire leapt a highway and destroyed a whole neighbourhood, while burning homes and businesses in other areas.

However, there have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries.

People struggled to flee in their cars with hours of gridlock reported on the main highway out of town.

"Everybody has given everything to do the very best they could," local fire chief Darby Allen was quoted as saying by CBC's website.

"I can categorically state that everything that was absolutely possible to protect the community was done."

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©2016 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany)

Visit Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) at www.dpa.de/English.82.0.html

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