Alberta Wildfires: Rain offers relief as Alberta rallies to battle wildfires
"We are looking forward to a brief reprieve — possibly in the next few days — as cooler weather comes up through the province that may give firefighters a chance to catch their breath."
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Amid a provincial state of emergency, firefighters in Alberta received cooler and humid weather that will help them battle dozens of out-of-control wildfires as nearly 30,000 residents have fled their homes, officials say.
As of 5 p.m. Sunday, Alberta Wildfire reported 109 active wildfires in the province, including 28 out-of-control blazes, although 19 were being held and 62 were under control. The agency is looking into the causes of the wildfires and, while the origins of 84 were still unknown, investigators suspect humans caused 15, and lightning sparked 10.
Alberta Wildfire saw “extreme wildfire behaviour” Saturday amid hot, dry and windy conditions, but spokeswoman Christie Tucker told media firefighters can expect a bit of a reprieve in the days ahead.
“Today we’ve seen some light, scattered showers in the southern part of the province, as far north as Fox Creek. The good news is that it did have an impact on fire behaviour today in that area,” she said at a Sunday news conference. “It allows firefighters to get a chance to work on the areas of some wildfires that they haven’t been able to get close to because of extreme wildfire behaviour.”
In the last 24 hours, Alberta saw 16 new wildfire starts, Tucker said, adding that more than 375,000 hectares of Alberta landscape have burned in 2023 thus far.
“Some years, you do get an extraordinary year,” she said of the conditions before referencing the 2016 Horse River wildfire that devastated Fort McMurray.
‘We help each other out’
While Alberta received additional firefighters from Ontario and Quebec on Saturday, the province has requested more through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, a not-for-profit organization that’s owned and operated by federal, provincial and territorial agencies to manage wildfires in Canada, Tucker said, as well as assistance from Montana.
“We really rely on these direct relationships that we have with our mutual-aid agencies,” Tucker said. “We help each other out.”
Response efforts are currently focused on fires threatening communities, including a 77,920-hectare blaze burning out of control 14 kilometres southeast of Edson, dubbed EWF-031, Tucker said, as well as the 56,500-hectare fire near East Prairie Metis Settlement. The latter fire is seven kilometres away from High Prairie and town residents are on a one-hour notice to evacuate, Alberta Wildfire said.
As EWF-031 has overrun the Minnow Lake Provincial Recreation Area, southeast of Edson, response efforts in the area include safeguarding energy for nearby communities, said Colin Blair, executive director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA).
“Critical power and electricity infrastructure is being threatened, and the current priority is the protection of the substation, which powers both Hinton and Jasper,” Blair said at the news conference.
Firefighters are also focusing efforts on two wildfires west of Edmonton burning out of control in the area of Evansburg, Entwistle, Wildwood and Hansonville. One reached 8,586 hectares in size in an area southeast of Evansburg north of Wildwood, crossing Highway 16. The other was burning about seven kilometres northwest of Evansburg and reaching across Highway 22 at 2,700 hectares, although firefighters have contained 65 per cent of the blaze. Helicopters and 14 pieces of heavy equipment were working in the area as well as 59 firefighters.
Those fires have damaged 21 structures in the area, but responders have been unable to fully assess the number of buildings affected due to ongoing smoke and fire conditions, Blair said, adding AEMA will provide more of those details in the coming days.
“We know structures have been lost, but our first priority is protecting lives and dealing with the emergency response,” Blair said.
Co-ordinating resources
Likewise, the fire at Fox Lake, about 500 kilometres north of Edmonton, is out of control and has reached 16,390 hectares. Alberta Wildfire said the community has evacuated and relocated west to High Level, a town about 150 kilometres west of Fox Lake, while an aircraft, heavy equipment and 56 firefighters are trying to douse the flames. Wildfire has destroyed a store, a local RCMP station and 20 homes, Blair said.
At least 20 host communities in the province have received about 29,000 evacuees, Blair said, and the Provincial Emergency Coordination Centre for Alberta’s wildfire response upgraded on Saturday from level three to level four — its highest level.
“This new measure allows for the most comprehensive response to the serious situation we continue to face as a province,” Blair said. “It will help us better coordinate the resources needed to protect Albertans and their communities.”
On Saturday, Alberta UCP Leader Danielle Smith met with a recently convened emergency management cabinet committee before declaring a state of emergency to help the province activate firefighting resources. NDP Leader Rachel Notley then met Sunday morning with Smith in Calgary to discuss Alberta’s response.
In a statement issued Monday, Notley said she offered her insights and experience in dealing with the Fort McMurray wildfire, adding she also met with Brazeau County and Drayton Valley evacuees at the Edmonton Expo Centre reception site.
“We want to ensure folks that, regardless of the election, government is going to work very hard to have their backs in this difficult time,” Notley said. “Albertans are at our very best when we come together. The outpouring of support during the wildfires the past few days is incredible but hardly surprising. Taking care of each other is just what we do.”
Beware fraudulent texts
In a Saturday report, Alberta Wildfire had its eye on 14 fires burning in the province including the 3,500-hectare blaze threatening Drayton Valley, about 140 kilometres southwest of Edmonton. Helicopters and firefighters have responded, Alberta Wildfire said, and air-tanker support is available. The Town of Drayton Valley said in a Sunday Facebook post the blaze has grown to nearly 5,000 hectares.
After Drayton Valley and surrounding Brazeau County residents were ordered to evacuate Thursday night, more than 1,500 people registered at the Edmonton Expo Centre reception site by Sunday afternoon, the City of Edmonton said in a news release. The city is also warning against fraudulent text messages targeting those affected by wildfires by prompting them to provide personal information for financial support. Evacuees are advised to only provide personal information in-person at reception sites or at emergencyregistration.alberta.ca.
Alberta Health Services (AHS) told Postmedia on Sunday that health-care centre evacuations in Drayton Valley, Edson and Fox Creek are “complete.”
Fox Creek Health Care Centre and High Prairie Health Complex, the latter including the JB Wood Continuing Care Centre, have temporarily closed and evacuated, AHS said in separate news releases Sunday, adding that the health authority staff are contacting families of patients and long-term care residents to advise of relocations.
Some residents of O’Chiese First Nation, roughly 230 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, have fled the community, which is under an evacuation alert while a 51,000-hectare fire burns nearby.
The Town of Rainbow Lake, about 130 kilometres west of High Level, issued an evacuation order as more than 2,000 hectares burned south of the community. Heavy equipment, helicopters and 44 firefighters have responded. The fire has since grown to 11,900 hectares.
‘Major impacts to homes’
Farther south, heavy equipment was helping to build a guard around a 8,500-hectare fire in Clear Hills County. Residents in the area have been advised to stay on alert and prepare for an evacuation order, Blair said.
The 1,000-hectare fire south of Grande Prairie, about 532 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, prompted the surrounding county to evacuate a 10-kilometre radius around the fire. But as of Saturday, smoke has affected the ability of aircraft to respond. The fire has since grown to 1,500 hectares.
Northwest of Swan Hills, about 220 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, three fires merged into a 58,000-hectare blaze that’s burning out of control. Blair said the flames are moving toward nearby High Prairie, and while there have been “major impacts to homes,” smoke is preventing an assessment of the damage.
Information about evacuation orders and reception sites is available at alberta.ca/emergency.
— With files from Michael Rodriguez
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