Editor’s note: This story is updated daily with the latest details on Alberta’s wildfire situation.
After a cool-weather reprieve, hot temperatures have returned to Alberta and with them, the wildfire risk is going back up in several areas.
On Thursday, a 19,567-hectare wildfire near Shiningbank Lake that’s been burning for more than a month in Yellowhead County grew, prompting an evacuation order for half a dozen properties near the McLeod River.
Earlier this week, the county and province went around and set up sprinklers on many of the rural properties close to the fire as a precautionary measure.
At around 6:30 p.m., that evacuation order was expanded to include residents south of Township 554 to the CN Rail Line between Highway 32 to Range Rd 134.
Evacuees were asked to register with the reception centre set up at the Peers Multiplex.
That fire is part of the Deep Creek Complex, which has 79 firefighters, six helicopters, 39 pieces of heavy equipment and 35 overhead staff working on it.
Alberta Wildfire said in addition to its own dedicated crews, the complex is also being attacked by firefighters from Prince Edward Island, B.C., the United States, Australia and South Africa.
In northern Alberta, an evacuation order remains in effect for the hamlet of Fort Chipewyan, Mikisew Cree First Nation (Allison Bay, Dog Head and Devils Gate), Fort Chipewyan Metis Nation and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Parts of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation remain under evacuation order.
As of Thursday, there were a total of four evacuation orders and 3,512 evacuees.
The provincial state of emergency ended on Saturday at 11:59 p.m.
The provincial state of emergency was declared on May 6 after tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes over intense and spreading wildfires.
Mike Ellis, who was Alberta’s minister of public safety and emergency services prior to the May 29 election, said the decision was made because the wildfire situation across the province “improved significantly.”
“We have the resources in place to protect the health and safety and well-being of Albertans without the extraordinary powers of the Emergency Management Act,” Ellis told reporters on Saturday.
Much of Alberta has seen rain and cooler temperatures in recent weeks, but the fire danger remains very high or extreme in the northern regions of the province (scroll down for regional details.)
“We’ve surpassed a million hectares, a milestone we’ve never hit by this point according to our records. The most area burned for an entire wildfire season was 1.3 million hectares in 1981. It’s been more than 40 years since we had a season like this one,” said Christie Tucker from Alberta Wildfire.
Cyndee Evans from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency also said the fire near Fort Chipewyan remains a high priority.
On May 30, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), Mikisew Cree First Nation (MCFN), Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) issued a joint evacuation order for the entire Fort Chipewyan community — roughly 1,000 people.
The fire, called the “Rocky River Fire” was detected at the end of May at 300 hectares and has since grown to more than 14,500 hectares.
It remains about eight kilometres away from the Fort Chipewyan community, about four kilometres from the airport and four kilometres from Allison Bay.
As of Thursday, there were 72 active wildfires burning in Alberta’s forest protection area, with 23 of those considered to be out of control.
The extreme rate of wildfire growth seen at the beginning of May slowed after the long weekend.
Spring 2023 has been the most active wildfire season in Alberta history, with more than 1.15-million hectares burnt by 560 wildfires, as of Friday.
The area burned is almost twice the size of Prince Edward Island, Alberta Wildfire said a few days ago.
At this time last year, only 450 hectares had burned. While this year is the highest number on record for area covered by spring wildfires, 1984 still had the highest burn rate across the entire season with 1.3 million hectares.
Fire ban and OHV ban/restriction
The province-wide fire ban has been eased slightly in some areas to a restriction, due to rain and cooler weather that has reduced the wildfire risk in many areas.
A fire ban and off-highway vehicle ban will remain in place in the High Level and Fort McMurray forest areas, where conditions are still dry and fire risk is high.
Last week, the fire ban and OHV ban was downgraded to a restriction across the rest of the forest protection area, which runs along Alberta’s foothills and encompasses all of the boreal forest north of Edmonton.
A fire restriction means people can have wood campfires in designated campgrounds and backyard firepits are permitted on private property. All outdoor wood fires will still be banned on public lands, including backcountry and random camping areas.
Alberta’s wildfire season officially began March 1 — the earliest in Canada and earlier than it used to begin, which was a result of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire. The season ends in October.
Latest on evacuation orders
As of Thursday afternoon, several evacuation orders remained in place across Alberta, and 3,512 people remained out of their homes.
There were four evacuation orders and two Alberta Emergency Alert orders.
Boots on the ground
As of Thursday, Alberta had approximately 2,800 personnel working on wildfires. This includes support from partner agencies across Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as the Canadian Armed Forces.
Tucker noted that Alberta has benefited from international support but now other parts of Canada are needing help too.
“There’s a demand for firefighters like never before,” she said.
There is also a Hercules Airtanker that arrived earlier this month from California, which Tucker said has the capacity to hold 3,000 gallons of water.
“This is truly an international effort,” Tucker said, adding it shows the value of Alberta’s resource-sharing agreement.
There are about 165 helicopters, 25 fixed-wing aircraft and heavy equipment responding to wildfires across Alberta.
Fewer soldiers deployed across Alberta
About 200 Canadian Armed Forces members from CFB Edmonton are working across the province — a decrease from the 400 that had been deployed in Edson, Winagami Provincial Park, Fox Creek and Slave Lake areas.
There are about 75 troops from 1 Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in Slave Lake and 75 troops from Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) in Fox Creek, the CAF said on Tuesday.
On Saturday, May 27 Federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair announced he approved an extension of Canadian Armed Forces deployment in Alberta.
The military said the province submitted a second request for assistance and CAF is committing troops until June 12, with the potential to extend upon re-evaluation.
Some soldiers that had been deployed for the past three weeks returned home to Edmonton on Tuesday. They were initially committed to help until May 22, but that was extended to May 29.
The locations and amount of troops needed is decided in coordination with Alberta Wildfire, the Canadian Armed Forces said, adding the military is mobile and can scale help as required.
Alberta Wildfire’s battle continues
According to the Wildfire Alberta website, as of Thursday there were nine wildfires of note in the forest protection area — areas along the foothills and all of northern Alberta where fires are managed by the province. For Alberta Wildfire’s jurisdictional purposes, the FPA is divided into 10 regions.
Many of those “wildfires of note” are complexes: several forest fires in a close geographical area that are being attacked together.
This week, warmer temperatures are pushing the wildfire risk back up across many parts of the province.
On Thursday, the wildfire danger risk was very high in the following forest areas: Fort McMurray, Edson, Whitecourt, Grande Prairie, Rocky Mountain House, Peace River, High Level, and Calgary.
The fire risk was high in the Slave Lake region and moderate in Lac La Biche area, although information about the latter hasn’t been updated since June 1.
The fires have destroyed or damaged 275 buildings across Alberta, including homes, businesses, outbuildings and other structures.
Alberta’s wildfire dashboard can be accessed here.
Evacuation information
For the latest information, status and updates on evacuations, visit the Alberta Emergency Alerts website.
Any evacuee who has been forced out of their home by wildfire for seven days total — not necessarily consecutively — is eligible for provincial funding supports.
Adults can receive $1,250 and an additional $500 for children under 18. People can apply for the Emergency Evacuation Funding through the provincial website.
Anyone who is unable to apply online or cannot receive the e-transfer can call the wildfire resources line: 310-4455.
As of June 6, the province had processed over 17,500 applications for wildfire evacuee aid and have sent out more than $30 million to individuals and families.
Alberta Education announced earlier this month students who have missed 10 or more school days because of wildfire evacuations will be automatically exempt from diploma exams.
Students who don’t want the exemption can write the exams at a different school in June, or wait and write them in August.
Both the federal and provincial government are matching donations to the Canadian Red Cross to support the disaster relief efforts in Alberta communities.
That means both levels of government will each match every dollar donated to the Canadian Red Cross 2023 Alberta Fires Appeal.
— With files from Meaghan Archer, Paula Tran, Emily Mertz, Phil Heidenreich and Jodi Hughes, Global News
— With files from the Canadian Press
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