Howard Rensler has lived close to forest fires before, but what he saw Tuesday will stay with him forever.
He and his wife spent much of the day at the MacDonald Island Park evacuation centre just outside downtown Fort McMurray.
By late afternoon, every residential area in the city of 60,000 was under evacuation order, with people forced to leave their homes as fire spread from the southeastern edge of the Alberta city, then moved rapidly west, devouring entire neighbourhoods.