[mig39]

That is a great description. This fire had been raging South of town for a few days. Some southern neighbourhoods were evacuated temporarily.

We woke up on Tuesday and the sky was blue, and the fire was largely contained.

Then it jumped the Athabasca River (which is a kilometre wide). That's when panic set it.

I live in the Thickwood neighbourhood. We went from "hey, better get organized in case we need to evacuate" to "get the hell out now!" in about 20 minutes.