Photos

This is What the Fort McMurray Fire Looks Like from Above (PHOTOS)

Officials have said that their efforts to quell the flames of the vicious Fort McMurray fire have largely failed. Nearly 90,000 area residents have evacuated and a provincial state of emergency was declared by the Alberta government on Wednesday evening.

(MORE: Everything We Know About the Fort McMurray Fire)

More than 250 firefighters are on the scene, working day and night, but the blaze shows no signs of weakening. It's times like this that officials use airplanes to drop retardant in front of the advancing flames in order to starve the fire of fuel. This makes it easier for ground crews to fight the wildfire.

The vantage point allows these fire-fighting pilots to document the sheer destruction of the fire. Thursday, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said that the fire had reached a massive 210,000 acres, making the blaze larger than the city of Chicago. As of Thursday, 1,600 homes and buildings have been destroyed and those numbers are expected to grow as the fire rages on.

(MORE: Additional Evacuations Ordered in Fort McMurray)

View the slideshow above to see what the fire looks like from the air.

MORE FROM WEATHER.COM: Photos of the Fort McMurray Fire