A ferocious wildfire wreaking havoc in Canada could double in size today, an official warned, cautioning the situation in the parched Alberta oil sands region was unpredictable and dangerous.
"This remains a big, out of control, dangerous fire," Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said of the raging inferno the size of London that forced the evacuation of the city of Fort McMurray.
Some 1,570 square kilometers (600 square miles) had been devastated since the blaze began almost a week ago and the fire had grown by an additional 50 percent in less than 24 hours, Goodale told a televised news conference.
"There is one prediction -- that if it continues to grow at the present pace, it could double today," he warned.
But "there would not appear to be imminent danger to another community."
The situation remains highly worrying regardless, Goodale indicated.
"It looks like the weather in and around Fort McMurray will still be, sadly, very conducive to serious burning conditions," he said.
"The situation remains unpredictable and dangerous."
Alberta's government crisis cell warned that fire conditions remained extreme in the province due to low humidity, high temperatures and gusty winds.
Still, in a glimmer of positive news, authorities have recorded no fatalities directly linked to the blaze so far, the minister said.
In the latest harrowing chapter, police convoys shuttling cars south to safety through Fort McMurray -- now a ghost town -- resumed at dawn today morning.
Making their way through thick, black smoke, the cars were filled with people trapped to the north of the city, having sought refuge there earlier in the week.
Police, wearing face masks, formed convoys of 25 cars, with kilometers (miles) of vehicles, smoke swirling around them, patiently awaiting their turn.
With elevated risk that something could go wrong, the convoys along Highway 63 were reduced in size compared to the previous day.
Those being evacuated -- for a second time, after first abandoning their homes -- had fled to an area north of the city where oil companies have lodging camps for workers.
But officials concluded they were no longer safe there because of shifting winds that raised the risk of them becoming trapped, and needed to move south to other evacuee staging grounds and eventually to Edmonton, 400 kilometers (250 miles) to the south.
Some 2,400 vehicles have so far been able to make it to safety.
