In May a conflagration encompassing two hundred and twenty thousand hectares — an area about a third larger than London — roved through Alberta’s boreal forest for weeks. The giant fire eventually tore through Fort McMurray, formerly a fur trading post and currently a postmodern conurbation nestled next to the world’s richest deposit of bitumen.

Eleven hundred firefighters from several provinces battled the seemingly invincible wildfire as the city’s ninety thousand residents fled. Work camps, home to tens of thousands of itinerant workers flown in from across the country and foreign Gastarbeiter (guest workers), were emptied, and production was shut down at almost all the large mines, wells, and plants. Rain finally brought the blaze under control in early July, though patches of the forest are still burning.

Such blazes are not unprecedented in the Canadian boreal forest, but May’s was the largest fire yet to threaten a city, let alone one as vital to the confederation’s economy.