Peace River Area Update

The wildfire hazard has increased to VERY HIGH. The weather is expected to be hotter and dryer in the coming days, increasing the fire danger to extreme. No new wildfires starts reported today in the Peace River forest area. Please continue to be careful and call 310-FIRE to report wildfires.

A wildfire continues to burn west of the Clearhills area ABC001 (BC Wildfire # G80068) on both sides of the BC/Alberta border. Today, the fire has been very active and areas of unburnt fuel in the middle of the burnt areas were consumed today. Smoke columns could be seen from several communites.  Firefighters, heavy equipment and helicopters worked the perimeter in both the north and the south sections of the fire today hitting hot spots and trying to keep the fire from growing larger.

Winds today sent the smoke straight into the air but smoke may drift into settlement areas tomorrow afternoon as the wind will blow from the South West. Anyone with health concerns should check the Alberta Health Services or call 811 for 24/7 health advise from Alberta Health Link. For a smoke forecast map, visit Wildfire Smoke Forecasts for Western Canada.

Clearhills County has issued an evacuation preparedness alert for areas north of Highway 64 and west of secondary Highway 726 in Clear Hills County.   

Sign up for the free emergency alert app to get up to the minute alerts and updates on evacuations and other emergencies in the province pushed to your device.  

For information on how you can prepare yourself for the event that an evacuation is necessary, visit www.aema.alberta.ca/72-hour-emergency-kit. 

 This wildfire is being continuously monitored by personnel in the air. Our first priority is public safety.  If an evacuation becomes necessary, those affected will be notified by the proper authorities immediately.

We have been working with the BC Forest Service to action this wildfire.  They are working on controlling the fire on the BC side of the border. For updates visit  BC wildfire website.The entire  fire is nearly 60,000 hectares in size. ABC001 map (Alberta side)

Fire Ban in Effect - Amended May 13

A Fire Ban remains in place for the northern part of the province of Alberta -excluding the Calgary Forest Area (CFA) and parts of the Rocky Mountain House area. Existing Fire Permits are canceled and no new fire permits will be issued.

This fire ban does not apply to cities, towns, villages or summer villages or federal lands such as national parks, but many municipalities have initiated a fire ban. All fires are now prohibited. The only exception is contained fires fueled by liquid or gas used for cooking or heating. Fireworks are also covered under the fire ban. For full details,visit albertafirebans.ca.

The OHV restriction only applies to recreational use on public lands and provincial parks, including designated OHV trails. It will not apply to agriculture, commercial/industrial or Indigenous peoples who use OHVs for farming, business operations or traditional use, respectively. Ministerial Order

During times of extreme wildfire danger and current Fire Bans, there are steps you can take in your day-to-day operations to help prevent a wildfire:

• Defer any non-essential use.
• Use an early shift configuration where operations stop at noon, before the heat of the day and the peak wildfire-burning period.
• Establish “Active Monitoring” practices – once you have completed operations with heavy equipment, stay in place and watch for flames or smoke for at least 30 minutes. This will help you make sure that the work didn’t start a wildfire.

For information about wildfires in Alberta follow us on Twitter @ABGovWildfire or Facebook. Download the Alberta Wildfire app for Apple and Android. 

Kelly Burke | Wildfire Information Officer
Grande Prairie Forest Area
780-538-5327 (office) | 780-832-7235 (mobile)