Firefighters protect Canada's oil sands battling 1,100 C flames

(Editor's Note: Please be advised that the last paragraph contains language that some readers may find offensive) By Liz Hampton, Eric M. Johnson and Ethan Lou (Reuters) - Fighting massive forest fires is dangerous and taxing enough, but those sent into Canada’s oil sands are not only wrestling with one of the worst wildfires in the country’s history. Now in its third week, the fire's proximity to the billions of dollars worth of oil equipment, flammable liquids, and extraction sites had people fearful that the flames, which can jump as far as more than a kilometer with gusts of wind, could do catastrophic damage to critical infrastructure. Dozens of safety workers and industrial firefighters are working at places like Syncrude and Suncor Energy's upgrading facilities north of Fort McMurray surrounded by flames burning to the edges of the oil sands, facing temperatures running as high as 1,100 Celsius (2,000 Fahrenheit).

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