Fire Weather: On the Front Lines of a Burning World

by John Vaillant

The Gordian network of intertwined systems that make up a city is truly daunting. Initiating an evacuation, even from a portion of Fort McMurray, would disrupt many thousands of people—everyone in that area from newborn infants and senile grandparents to pets and belligerent drunks. Complicating matters was the fact that most people were at work or in school. How do you get the message to them? How do you handle their emotions? What if they insist on going home? What if they refuse to leave? What if there’s an accident at a crucial intersection? If you shut down gas and electricity, what are the implications? What about the hospital—should you use vans or medevac? What about looters? And law enforcement? There were men in jail and women in childbirth; there were supermarkets full of perishable food, and perishable customers; there was a pet store, an animal shelter, and tanks of live lobsters.