Forest Fire In Canada Capai Japser, Firefighters Fight To Protect Oil Pipes

Canadian / UNSPLASH /Frank Thiemonge

JAKARTA - A forest fire reached the town often in Canada, one in hundreds of fires that hit western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, as firefighters struggled to save key facilities such as the Trans Mountain Pipeline, authorities said.

Uncontrolled forest fires occurred throughout the region including 433 fires in British Columbia and 176 fires in Alberta, more than a dozen fires occurred in the Fort McMurray area, the oil sand center.

Pipes that can carry 890,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from Edmonton to Vancouver, across a national park in the Rocky Mountains of Canada near a beautiful tourist town, where some 25,000 people were forced to flee on Tuesday.

Firefighters are trying to save as many buildings as possible and protect important infrastructure, including wastewater treatment installations, communications facilities, Trans Mountain Pipeline, Parks Canada said in a post on Facebook.

The pipeline operator previously said it operated the pipeline safely and had deployed sprinkler protection as a precaution.

The worsening of air quality forced firefighters and other firefighters who lacked breathing equipment to evacuate to the city of Hinton, about 100 km (62 miles) away.