An out-of-control wildfire in Sturgeon County, Alta., has burned down one house, scattered animals and forced residents to standby ready to evacuate.
The county issued an evacuation notice Saturday evening, warning residents to prepare to flee in case conditions worsen. Shortly after midnight, the county declared a local state of emergency.
“We’re just keeping people safe and trying to protect property,” Mayor Alanna Hnatiw told CBC Radio’s Daybreak Alberta on Sunday.
The evacuation notice affects people living around the Redwater Provincial Recreation Area, about 60 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.
Late Saturday night, RCMP issued news releases saying officers from multiple departments were responding. Emergency personnel were helping people evacuate, but police didn’t specify how many.
At 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, the county issued another update, stating the evacuation area includes:
- Range Road 205 to Victoria Trail;
- Township 574 to Range Road 205;
- Township 574 to Range Road 203;
- South of Township 580 to the North Saskatchewan River;
- East of Range Road 212 to the North Saskatchewan River.
As of 1:30 a.m. Sunday, temporary road closures were implemented around the provincial park. Only county residents are allowed into the area, the county said.
Alberta Wildfire estimated the fire to span nearly 390 hectares, according to the agency’s dashboard as of 12:45 p.m. In its update Sunday afternoon, the county said three helicopters are part of the fire fight.
“If winds can change, situations can change,” Hnatiw said. “We just want to be able to allow emergency response to do their jobs, with as minimal barriers as possible.”
The local state of emergency, she said, allows fire crews to enter property or use equipment needed to respond to the flames.
Daybreak Alberta9:02Home lost as out of control wildfire burns in Sturgeon County
We hear from the Mayor of Sturgeon County, where a state of local emergency has been declared. A fire is burning out of control in the Redwater Provincial Recreation Area.
As of early Sunday morning, the fire had not crossed the North Saskatchewan River, to the southeast of the flames, but they had burned down one house, Hnatiw said.
The affected area, with a mix of forest and farmland, is not densely populated. But she said there are some cattle and poultry farms.
The family whose home burned down was able to evacuate their herd of cattle, Hnatiw said.
“Our hearts go out to them,” Hnatiw said. “Often, if farms have cattle, they have other animals as well and [we] have yet to find out what has taken place.”
Hnatiw said she’s grateful the family was able to establish a cattle liner. But it’s also a sign that wildfires are becoming a common threat for residents.
Shantelle Williams and her family, to whom the burned-down house belonged, prepare for wildfires every year because it’s dry in the area. There are ponds and dugouts nearby that they use, she told CBC News, but this time they only had 13 minutes to flee.
“We’re going to be starting from scratch,” Williams said. “We lost the house, our calving barn, our shop — everything. We were lucky to get as many animals out as we did.”
Williams thought she would have time to corral the cows, then hustle home to grab important items. But when she turned around, the house was aflame.
“Those 13 minutes flew by,” she said.
“We walked away with the clothes on our back and that’s about it.”
The family lost all of their broiler chickens and laying hens, she said. They spent Sunday herding their cattle and are still counting how many are alive.
Officials from the county’s families and community services has contacted the family to support them however they need, Hnatiw said.
The Alberta Wildfire dashboard shows Sturgeon County is under a fire restriction, which bans wood fires on public lands. The fire risk in most of the county, including where the out-of-control fire is burning, is very high.
Prescribed burn leads to fire in northwest Alberta
An “unexpected wind event” turned a prescribed burn along the Peace River, in northwestern Alberta, into a large out-of-control fire, according to Alberta Wildfire.
Late Friday afternoon, wind fanned the flames on the Hutton Creek prescribed fire project, breaking the containment barrier, the agency said in an update at 1:45 p.m. Sunday.
Crews are working to put out the fire, which is estimated to span 1,200 hectares. The flames are about 35 kilometres southeast of Manning, Alta., but on the opposite side of the river, the Alberta Wildfire dashboard shows.
But in its update Sunday afternoon, Alberta Wildfire said the fire does not pose a threat to nearby communities.
The dashboard shows the region is under a fire advisory, which signals an elevated fire risk but doesn’t ban any flames other than fireworks and exploding targets. The potential fire danger where it is burning is very high.
