Some 8,000 workers at oil camps north of the fire-ravaged Canadian city of Fort McMurray were ordered to evacuate late on Monday as authorities continued the battle to bring wildfires under control.

The mandatory evacuation zone was extended to 50 kilometers north of the city, whose 80,000 residents have been out of their homes for more than two weeks.

Suncor, one of the major operators working on Canada's oil sands, issued a news release late on Monday confirming it had "started a staged and orderly shutdown of our base plant operations" and that personnel were being transported to work camps further north. It stressed there has been no damage to Suncor infrastructure.