An enormous fire burning out of control has stopped work at Imperial’s oilsands site north of Fort McMurray.
Duncan MacDonnell, a spokesman for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, said 417 workers were fighting the fire Sunday.
It covered 259,000 hectares about 65 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
MacDonnell said workers were constructing a fire guard with heavy equipment.
The southeast portion of the fire has come within a few kilometres of Imperial Oil’s Kearl Oil Sands site, about 43 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
Company spokesman Pius Rolheiser said about 3,000 Kearl workers were held back at their Wapasu camp Monday morning because of concerns about air quality. The company made the same move twice last week when air conditions were bad.
“This is not an evacuation, but there is a temporary suspension of work at the main Kearl site,” said Rolheiser.
As of Sunday, the southeastern edge of the fire was eight kilometres northwest from the plant site, Rolheiser said.
The work stoppage has caused concern among Kearl workers, who have been instructed to stay inside due to smoke.
One man, who works as a heavy machine operator at the site but is now in Edmonton, said he’s been getting texts and calls from co-workers at the camp since 5 a.m., raising concerns about air quality, evacuation plans and being stuck at the facility without pay. They are fearful of losing their jobs if they leave, he said.
“Everybody I’ve talked to this morning has big concerns,” he said, asking his name not be used. “The fire is two kilometres away, and they’re telling everyone it’s OK.”
When the worker flew out last week, he said the pilot had difficulty seeing the end of the runway, and it’s only become worse since.
Imperial Oil insists its evacuation plan has been shared with the province, and the company continues to monitor air quality. On May 20, 400 to 500 workers were evacuated from a site 40 kilometres away at Imperial’s river water intake point, said Rolheiser.
Occupational Health and Safety spokeswoman Sorcha Thomas said the province is aware of the situation at the Kearl site, and has not been made aware of any complaints from workers.
The worker said that during a work stoppage last week, Imperial threatened employees who wanted to leave.
“We were told explicitly that if we left the site, we would have to leave our ID” and the company would have assumed they had quit their jobs, said the worker. The company rescinded that order the next morning.
“That insinuation has been passed again — that you will have to leave your ID at the door,” said the worker.
Rolheiser described the allegations that workers have been threatened as “rumour” and declined to comment.
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