The following version of the book was used to create the guide: Vaillant, John. Fire Weather: On the Front Lines of a Burning World. Vintage, 2024.

Fort McMurray is an oil boomtown in the middle of a forest. Forests burn periodically as a means of regeneration, and the citizens of Fort McMurray remain in constant danger. Shandra Linder and her husband are so accustomed to nearby fires that they barely notice them. Most other residents of Fort McMurray are likewise unconcerned. In fact, Canada has a long history of dangerous wildfires such as the Chinchanga Fire of 1950 which burned over four million acres.

Fort McMurray began as a trading post and rapidly transitioned to a key petroleum center. Fort McMurray's specialty is bitumen upgrading. Bitumen can become crude oil, diesel fuel, and many other petroleum products. Bitumen upgrading is lucrative, but life on the edge of a forest remains dangerous. Fire needs only heat, fuel, and oxygen to grow out of control. Fire often appears to be a living thing because it grows, engenders offspring, and adapts to rapidly changing conditions.

The wildfire that was first spotted on May 1, 2016 was named MWF-009 (McMurray Wildfire 009). Fort McMurray's mayor, Melissa Blake, observed that this fire was not under control. Bernie Schmitte, the regional manager of the Wildfire Division of Alberta's Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture, came to the same conclusion. However, he remained upbeat about the fire's future course. Darby Allen, the municipal fire chief, agreed with Schmitte that Fort McMurray's citizens should go about their daily routines while keeping an emergency plan in mind if conditions changed.

Not everyone believed that Fire 009 could be easily contained. Firefighters Jamie and Ryan Coutts, a father-son team, had fought a monster Slave Lake fire and knew how easily a small wildfire could get out of control. Both men set out for Fort McMurray with a sprinkler rig in tow. They were concerned that firefighters in Fort McMurray lacked a sense of urgency. Soon, Fire 009 jumped the Athabasca River and started a new fire. Quickly, Fire 009 spread as the temperature rose and the humidity dropped. Constant winds provided plenty of oxygen for the flames.

Chris Vandenbreekel, a journalist at the local Fort McMurray radio station, interviewed Bernie Schmitte. Schmitte admitted that the fire had intensified, yet he did not issue an evacuation order. The first evacuation order did not come until 2:05 p.m. on May 3. Local citizens like Paul and Michele Ayearst rushed about in a frenzy trying to pack up their houses. The fire raged at their doorstep. Fort McMurray remained in constant danger because it was in the middle of the WUI, the wildland-urban interface. The WUI is the area in which built-up civilization meets the forest. The problem with living in the WUI is that forests burn periodically as a means of regeneration. Fort McMurray's residents drive away from the raging fire, and miraculously, there are no fatalities or serious injuries during the chaotic evacuation of over 88,000 people. The houses left behind--filled with petroleum-based furnishings--burn to the ground in three to five minutes.

Fort McMurray is not recovering well from Fire 009 because major oil and gas ventures have been selling off assets. Insurance companies refuse to underwrite the policies of bitumen processing plants. The fossil fuel era wanes, but wildfire seasons expand. The WUI now covers the globe, and fire season is year-round and 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Fort McMurray wildfire is simply a sign of many more wildfires to come.