Global Courant 2023-05-01 07:52:13
Residents of several communities west of Edmonton have been ordered to evacuate their homes because of an advancing and out of control wildfire.
RCMP says due to high winds, a Parkland County fire is moving rapidly west toward the hamlets of Entwistle and Evansburg, two communities about 60 miles west of Edmonton.
Both Parkland County and neighboring Yellowhead County have declared a state of emergency.
Derrick Forsythe, information officer with Alberta Wildfire, said there are technically two fires burning in the area. As of 10 a.m., one was 330 hectares and the other 3,000 hectares.
“With such dry conditions, people should heed the messages sent by the council to evacuate to get out of the danger zone,” he told CBC on Sunday.
Forsythe said there were 40 active wildfires in Alberta as of 5:30 p.m. Twelve were new in the past 24 hours.
Brian Cornforth, Parkland County Fire Chief and Incident Commander on this wildfire, said it has been a challenging fight so far, mainly because of the wind and low relative humidity.
“We had a big fire growth yesterday… We’re just working on the flanks of this fire to try to reduce it,” he told CBC on Sunday.
A map shows the area of the fire and the current evacuation order. (Parkland province)
Cornforth said at least one house was destroyed, as well as some outbuildings. Most people have been evacuated and firefighters are working with RCMP to ensure everyone’s safety.
The cause is unknown at this time, Cornforth said.
“Our focus right now is obviously on the protection of life and property. We’ll focus on that and then we’ll make a case and determination later.”
Yellowhead County Mayor Wade Williams also highlighted the focus on safety and property protection in an interview Sunday night.
He estimates that about 1,200 people have been evacuated from Yellowhead County. He said about 45 people from the county are working crews to help fight the flames, plus some assistants on bulldozers and excavators.
Williams said the county was prepared, but “every fire is different.” He urged residents to be vigilant to ensure no new fires start.
“It’s dry all over the county,” he said. “If everyone could just be careful, that would really help.”
Order evacuation
Alberta Emergency Alert said Parkland County has ordered everyone west of Range Road 65, north of Township Road 530 to Township Road 534, including all Entwistle residents, to evacuate immediately.
A second emergency alert ordered all residents of the hamlet of Evansburg and those in the area immediately south of the hamlet in Yellowhead County to evacuate their property immediately.
Just before 3 a.m. local time, the Alberta Emergency Management Agency issued a third emergency alert for Yellowhead County. The mandatory evacuation order was extended to all residents of the Lobstick Resort and area north of Wildwood just before 5 p.m.:
From the east side of Chip Lake east along Township Road 542 to Range Road 75North along Range Road 75 to Township Road 550West along Township Road 550 to Range Road 80North up Range Road 80 to Township Road 554West along Township Road 554 to Range Road 103South along Range Road 103 to Chip Lake and follow the shoreline from Chip Lake back to Township Road 542
The critical warnings advised people to gather important documents, medicines, and enough food and water to be gone for at least three days.
According to Parkland County, Wildwood Community Hall and Wabamun Jubilee Hall are the evacuee shelters in that county.
The light from the flames could be seen Saturday night in nearby Wildwood, Alta. (Craig Ryan/CBC)
Mark Cacka was at a birthday party with his family when he received a call from neighbors informing him of the threat to their home just south of Entwistle.
“We were able to scrape together some stuff from the house,” he said. The family is currently staying in an RV parked with a friend near Wildwood.
Cacka said it was an emotional journey, but he received support from community members.
“When we packed up, we probably had no fewer than a dozen people contacting us and saying, ‘What can we do to help?'”
Wildfire activity northwest of Edmonton also prompted evacuation orders on Sunday.
At approximately 2 p.m. local time, Barrhead and Westlock RCMP issued a press release stating that people living between 592 and 594 Township Road and 15 and 24 Range Road should evacuate.
At around 5:30 p.m., an update reported that the evacuated residents were able to return to their homes.
However, the area near 14/15 Range Road remains impassable as it is used as a staging area for police and firefighters, RCMP said in a statement. The closures are expected to remain in effect for at least a day.
