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A highway camera photo shows traffic in FortMcMurray jammed in the southbound lane of Highway 63 on the north side of the Athabasca River. The image was captured at 3:11 p.m. MT, about an hour after an evacuation order was issued for four neighbourhoods. (511 Alberta)
Evacuation order issued as wildfire threatening Fort McMurray draws closer https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-wildfire-grande-prairie-fort-mcmurray-1.7203695
Public transit shuts down in emergencies. What is even the point of this complaint?
OK, now we have two complaints.
Ah yes we should expect bus and train drivers to go into danger head first.
At the very least, we should absolutely have respective personnel.
Public transportation is the quickest way to mass move people around. Private transport should come second.
I had to check Google maps to make sure but the next closest city appears to be about 300kms south (Athabasca, unless Lac La Biche is closer), even with public transit they aren't getting anywhere else. There's nothing in so much of Northern Canada you're screwed for mobility without a vehicle.
What do people who don't own cars do in this scenario?
Not live there. I'm not joking, if you live in Northern Canada the first thing you'll save up for is a car, or you'll know people who own a car.
It's not just remote places that can get evacuated.
I don't live in the north, don't own a car, and don't worry about it, but if something catastrophic were to happen here, I hope there would be options for the many non-car-having people.
I'd cycle and camp. I reckon I could cover 50-100km a day on a bike, possibly more if motivated by emergency. 20km city riding takes me an hour usually.
I almost have the proper gear for this... I'm sure I could make it work in an emergency. A good contingency idea. I think I've done about 80k in a day before, and it wasn't particularly strenuous... you can cover a lot of ground on a bike if you just keep going.
In other countries, where motorcycles are common, you'd see a good portion of them zig-zagging past the mostly stopped cars. While carry capacity is severely limited, compared to a car, it's still better than nothing.
Now, people without any means of transportation are pretty much fucked, because to evacuate, you need time to pack some of your shit and some way to transport it with you. Depending on the event, you'd have to choose between GTFO ASAP or packing the most you can. Even if a government provided buses for people without cars, how long would it take for everyone to finish packing their stuff inside and getting in before it's too late?
This reminds me of watching a Vietnamese YouTuber talking about getting through a major typhoon. I don't think they explained how the buses were organized, but there were buses.
Plus, you tend to need to carry a lot of stuff when evacuating. My photo albums alone are too heavy to cart around for any meaningful distance, never mind spare clothing etc.
In what scenario would you bring photo albums when evacuating? If it's non-serious then you can come back, it's serious then you should have higher priorities.