Fort McMurray Alberta

Some 8,000 workers at oil camps north of the fire-ravaged Canadian city of Fort McMurray were ordered to evacuate late Monday as authorities continued the battle to bring wildfires under control.

Canada's Prime Minister arrived in wildfire-ravaged Fort McMurray on Friday and after taking a helicopter tour to assess the damage said he doesn't think most Canadians comprehend yet the scope of what happened in the oil sands capital, where more than 88,000 people were forced to evacuate.

The fire chief for Canada's evacuated oil sands town is asking for patience and vowing to get residents home as soon as possible after a devastating fire.

Alberta premier's declared Canada's oil sands city saved and said a plan will be put together within two weeks so 88,000 residents forced to evacuate can return to their homes.

The Alberta government said the massive blaze in the province will cover more than 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres) by Sunday and continue to grow because of high temperatures, dry conditions and high winds. Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire said it's not uncommon to fight such an inferno in forested areas for months.

Canadian officials fear a massive wildfire could double in size by the end of Saturday as they continue to evacuate residents of fire-ravaged Fort McMurray from work camps north of Alberta's oil sands city.

Canadian officials will start moving thousands of people from work camps north of devastated Fort McMurray in a mass highway convoy Friday morning if it is safe from a massive wildfire raging in Alberta.

Alberta declared a state of emergency Wednesday as crews frantically held back wind-whipped wildfires that have already torched 1,600 homes and other buildings in Canada's main oil sands city of Fort McMurray, forcing more than 80,000 residents to flee.

The entire population of the Canadian oil sands city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, has been ordered to evacuate from a wildfire that officials said destroyed whole neighborhoods.