The wildfire hazard for Saturday is HIGH. The Fire Advisory remains in place for the weekend, pending significant precipitation. No heavy burning. Follow the conditions on the back of your permits. Campfires are allowed - keep them small and under control.
An arctic cold front is expected to cross the area tonight. This means winds will be strong and any fires that start will travel quickly through dry grass. The forecast for tomorrow is for a high of 10 with humidity of 25% and winds NE25. Never burn with winds stronger than 15 km - tomorrow's winds exceed this, so NO BURNING please. Temperatures will pick up again on Sunday and Monday and humidity will drop somewhat. The hazard will remain high unless we get some significant precipitation. We will also be on the lookout for holdover fires from lightning strikes. Wind and dry conditions are prime for stirring up lightning fires - and we had some lightning strikes in the west part of the area on Friday afternoon.
We had no new wildfires today. LWF 107, near the Statoil facility (Conklin area) is being held at 7 hectares. Crews continue to work to extinguish this fire. LWF 108, in the same area, was extinguished this morning.
We have 13 crews, 9 helicopters, airtankers, cat units, water trucks and other heavy equipment across the area. We have resources aiding on a fire in Westlock County.
It's the long weekend and we expect the forest to be busy with campers, quadders and recreation enthusiasts. Keep campfires small and under control. Never leave a fire unattended, even when you go to bed. Make sure your fires are completely extinguished before you leave them on Monday. Check quads and OHVs for debris that will build up, overheat, smoulder and can fall to the ground starting a wildfire. Check your path for signs of smoke. And if you come across an abandoned campfire, do everyone a favor and check to make sure it's extinguished! We appreciate the help in protecting our forests.
Thanks for doing your part to prevent wildfire.
For more information, please contact:
Leslie Lozinski
Forest Information Officer
780-623-9758