Favorable winds were expected to push the fire away from the city of about 68,000 in northwest Canada, where many residents earn a paycheck from the nearby oil industry. The Fort McMurray fire ...

It is displayed at the Oil Sands Discovery Centre in Fort McMurray, Alberta, where tourists can “experience the history, science, and technology of the oil sands for yourself.” Image by ...

This story appears in the March 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine. One day in 1963, when Jim Boucher was seven, he was out working the trap­line with his grandfather a few miles south of ...