Two out of control wildfires in the Fort McMurray Forest Area continue to be cause for concern for Alberta Wildfire.
One near Fort Chipewyan sparked Monday morning, while the one burning southwest of Fort McMurray has expanded to nearly 6,600 hectares.
Josée St. Onge from Alberta Wildfire says rain is in the forecast, and cooler temperatures are helping.
“We also have a lot of resources that are working very hard to contain the wildfire,” St. Onge said. “We have six crews of firefighters that are out there, as well as the assistance of 13 helicopters; we have air tankers on standby if they are required.”
St. Onge says the fire hasn’t moved closer to the highway or Fort McMurray Sunday or Monday, in part thanks to the wind.
“We will see a wind shift (Monday) afternoon, there’s a new system coming in, and it will come from the west,” St. Onge said. “But we’re in a better place now; we have some fireguards established, and there are crews actively working, so the wind shift is less concerning than they were on Friday and Saturday.”
Provincially, there are 45 active wildfires burning in Alberta at the moment. Aside from the mutual aid fire burning near Grande Prairie, the lone out-of-control wildfires are burning in the Fort McMurray Forest area.
When asked how people who are not trained firefighters can help assist in battling fires, Alberta Wildfire Information Manager Christie Tucker says there are already some people in that category helping out.
“These are people who have heavy equipment they want to help us use for things like building that fireguard and containing wildfires around communities or people who have individual skills that we can put to work with some training to assist us.”
When asked about a lack of emergency alerts pertaining to the fire burning near Fort McMurray, Tucker says an out-of-control wildfire does not immediately mean residents are in danger.
“If it is assigned ‘out-of-control,’ it does not necessarily mean that every wildfire that is assigned that status is a threat to a community or to nearby residents,” Tucker said. “That information is certainly that we would be passing on to the municipality to help them in making their decisions.”
Tucker says crews are working on the northeast corner of the fire, an area they see as the front of the fire.
“When we’re working to manage a fire, we are looking at those areas where we’re expecting, say, for example, the wind and the fuels to push the movement of the fire, and we focus resources on that area,” Tucker said. “I know we do have heavy equipment hard at work there that are working on to build a fire break, particularly in that northeast side of the fire.”
As mentioned, the lone mutual aid fire that’s burning out of control is located near Grande Prairie, which prompted an evacuation order for some areas around the community.
