Canada fire expected to burn for months

The images are ones of devastation - scorched homes, virtually whole neighbourhoods burned to the ground. And Canadian officials say they expect to fight the massive wildfire that has destroyed large parts of Alberta's oil sands town for months.

There's fear the growing wildfire could double in size and reach a major oil sands mine and even the neighbouring province of Saskatchewan.



The Alberta government said the massive blaze in the province will cover more than 200,000 hectares by Sunday and continue to grow because of high temperatures, dry conditions and high winds. Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire said it's not uncommon to fight such an inferno in forested areas for months.

"In no way is this fire under control," Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said.

Officials had hoped to complete the mass evacuation of work camps north of Fort McMurray on Saturday. Thousands of displaced residents got a drive-by view of some of the burned-out neighbourhoods as convoys continued. No deaths or injuries have been reported since the fire started last Sunday.

Notley said about 12,000 evacuees have been airlifted from oil sands mine air fields over the past two days, and about 7,000 have left in highway convoys escorted by police. She said the goal was to complete the evacuation from northern work camps by Sunday.