The sky in Fort McMurray now looks like a wall of fire and smoke as a mammoth inferno swallows parts of the Canadian city.
Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 80,000 people, including the entire city of Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo said Wednesday.
The blaze has already destroyed 80% of Fort McMurray's Beacon Hill community, RM Wood Buffalo said. Well over a dozen homes burned down, but the full breadth of the destruction remains unclear. Paul Spring said his entire neighborhood went down in flames.
"The whole subdivision is gone," the veteran pilot and firefighter said. "Things are pretty horrible right now. We've been out flying and surveying the damage."
Spring is the president of Phoenix Heli-Flight. Despite his own loss, he hasn't stopped working.
He said his team will fly firefighting missions, dropping water and assisting crews on the ground.
"As long as we keep the people safe, we can rebuild the houses," he said.
Despite the catastrophic images, no injuries have been reported.