Canada wildfire growing as weather heats up, escape convoy underway

By Rod Nickel and Liz Hampton LAC LA BICHE, Alberta (Reuters) - A raging Canadian wildfire that forced the evacuation of the Alberta oil town of Fort McMurray intensified on Saturday, helped by hot, dry weather, with police escorting a fresh convoy of evacuees out of the region. The blaze, the largest of some 40 wildfires burning across the province of Alberta, has forced some 88,000 residents, the entire population of Fort McMurray, to flee for safety. The weather, with temperatures on Saturday expected to rise as high as 28 degrees Celsius (82.4 Fahrenheit), was hindering efforts to fight the wildfire, said Matthew Anderson, a wildfire information official with the Alberta government.

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