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Fire raged unchecked through the Canadian city of Fort McMurray overnight as authorities raced to complete the evacuation of its population of 80,000, fearful that hot, dry winds forecast for Wednesday would further fan the flames.
About 44,000 people were estimated to have fled the city by late on Tuesday on traffic-choked roads, and the province of Alberta requested military help to bring the blaze under control and airlift others from fire- and smoke-filled streets.
"I'm afraid that huge parts of my home town... may burn tonight and will continue to burn," Brian Jean, leader of Alberta's official opposition party, told CBC Radio, saying his own home was in the immediate path of the flames.
The fire in the heart of Canada's oil sands region broke out southwest of the city on Sunday, shifting aggressively with the wind to breach city limits on Tuesday, when its size was estimated at 26.5 square kilometers (6,540 acres).
It destroyed one residential neighborhood in the southeast, and others were severely damaged or under threat, Chief Darby Allen of Fort McMurray's fire department said.
The blaze also temporarily closed off the main southern exit from the city, Highway 93, prompting many residents to flee north toward the oil sands camps.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley described the evacuation as the biggest in the province's history.
Officials said army and air force assistance would take two days to arrive, and they expected to face another day of battling the flames on Wednesday, when relatively low humidity, hot temperatures and high winds were in the forecast.
No casualties had been reported, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo said early on Wednesday on Twitter, and its mayor Melissa Blake said at least one baby was born at a lodging for energy workers being used as an evacuation site.
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