We urge residents and members of the public to use extra caution near burnt areas. There are many hazards that may not be visible, like deep burning ash pits and falling trees. Burnt trees and powerlines could fall on the road and block your vehicle. Do not approach powerlines as they could be energized.
If you see aircraft in the area, we ask that you move away from the area to allow them space to work. You may be unintentionally impeding their operations, please give our firefighters the room and time they need to complete their tasks.
A drone in the sky means we can't fly. Keep our pilots and firefighters safe, a drone can cause serious injury and even death.
Previous Edson Forest Area Updates - Click here
Members of the Domestic Response Company, 41 Canadian Brigade Group assisting on EWF-035 (May 23, 2023)
MEET EMBER
Meet Ember, FireSmart’s official mascot. Ember teaches Canadians how to apply FireSmart principles to their homes and properties so they can be more resilient against the threat of wildfire.
Special Announcement from Yellowhead County
The final remaining Evacuation Order has been lifted in Yellowhead County:
Shiningbank area residents were able to return home at 4:00 p.m. today (May 23, 2023).
Residents west of the McLeod River will no longer be in an evacuation zone or under any alert. Residents east of the McLeod River will still be under a 30-minute evacuation alert in case conditions change. The attached map shows the alert zone.
These areas will continue to be accessible for LOCAL TRAFFIC ONLY. We ask all locals within the area to take extreme care when out and about, and please stay out of the burnt areas.
Removal of Structural Protection for Homes:
Structural protection sprinklers and gear are being removed from some areas in Yellowhead County over the next week.
Wildfire conditions have improved, and fire containment is continuing daily. If the structural protection equipment is removed from your home, structural protection crews are confident that your home is no longer under immediate threat. This will only be done in areas where crews are confident it is safe to remove. It is important to have this equipment available for areas that need it.
If conditions change, the protection will be brought back in.
Thank you for your understanding.
GENERAL INFORMATION ON WILDFIRES IN OUR AREA
**Bold indicates new or important information.
The area continues to have limited resources due to these exceptional times. We're sharing valuable resources with many other wildfires in the province but continue to work on and monitor the following wildfires in our area: WCU001, WCU002, EWF035, EWF031, EWF039, EWF037, EWF040 and new starts that are detected.
Firefighters, aircraft, and heavy equipment have been working in conjunction with county and municipal firefighting services as aggressively as possible to make progress on these wildfires while the conditions have been favorable. Despite all of this hard work, there are still hundreds of kilometers of uncontained wildfire perimeter and fire behaviour forecasts indicate that there may be growth on some of the wildfires throughout the Edson Forest Area.
Lingering smoke can still be visible in some areas and in affected communities. Smoke inversions can trap air near the ground causing dangerous driving conditions and impacting nearby communities. Please use EXTRA CAUTION WHEN DRIVING IN SMOKY CONDITIONS!
While we always appreciate people calling in to report wildfires, the large volume of calls we are currently receiving is diverting our resources away from other essential tasks. As always, please still call 310-FIRE if you see smoke or flame that looks new and potentially unreported, but assume that large columns of smoke and burned over areas have already been detected and reported. Thank you!
All wildfires in Alberta are investigated and these wildfires remain under investigation. To learn more about wildfire classifications, click here.
ACTIVE WILDFIRES
PEMBINA WILDFIRE COMPLEX - EWF031/039, RWF034/040
EWF031 was detected on May 4 and is located 25 km west of Lodgepole, 20 km northwest of Brazeau Dam and 14 km southeast of Edson. The fire is classified as out of control and is estimated to be 113,244 in size.
Today, there were 70 firefighters and support staff being shared between this fire and EWF039. There were 20 pieces of heavy equipment, and nine helicopters assigned to the complex. An airtanker group was still available to respond if necessary. A Yukon team prepared for their departure today and a new incoming crews arrive tomorrow.
There is a containment line on the north side of the fire working downwards towards 6 Mile Road as well as a containment line located south from Dora’s Corner (completed two days ago). Both lines will now need continued air support when visibility improves, and it is safe for aviation to operate to perform bucketing.
Today, the downturn in weather occurred as forecasted. Fire behavior was minimal today and is expected to remain the same tomorrow.
EWF039 located near Carrot Creek, is currently being held. The fire is currently estimated to be 165 ha. The decrease in size is due to more accurate mapping of the fire. The fire is fully wrapped in containment line and is a kilometer away from the Carrot Creek lookout tower. Crews have successfully left the area and will be repositioned on fire EWF031. Personnel are continuing to monitor the area available to respond if necessary.
RWF034 is located near the O'Chiese Reserve and classified as out of control. The fire is currently estimated at 82,869 ha in size. The increased size is attributed to growth that has been observed over the last couple of days and due to more accurate mapping. There were 55 firefighters and support staff working on this fire. There were three helicopters assigned to the fire and four additional helicopters assigned to the complex. In addition, there were 22 pieces of heavy equipment.
Visibility issues from smoke hampered air operations again today. Ground crews will be assessing strategic locations on the southside of the fire for future operations. Crews continue to hold and mop up in the northern part of the southwest side of the fire.
When the weather cleared this afternoon, a short reconnaissance flight was conducted over RWF034. No fire growth was found and fire behavior was minimal.
RWF040 The fire is being monitored by firefighters and support staff assigned to the complex and are able to respond if necessary. The fire is currently estimated to be 4,544 ha in size. Growth has occurred mostly to the west. The Blackstone Lookout Tower in the area is currently not at risk.
By: Kent Romney, Pembina Complex.
If you have any questions or concerns about the PEMBINA COMPLEX please call the Area Wildfire Information Officer: Caroline Charbonneau at 780-740-1341
DEEP CREEK WILDFIRE COMPLEX – EWF035, WCU001 & WCU002
WCU001 was detected on April 29 and is classified as out of control. The wildfire remains at 7,281 ha in size, no new growth was recorded outside the fire perimeter. The wildfire zone is located southeast of Entwistle and west over the Pembina River where it spread north and travelled over Highway 16. The wildfire is parallel with Highway 16 and moved further west where the wildfire spread just north of Wildwood and now rests at Chip Lake.
WCU002 was detected on the evening of April 29 and is a mutual aid wildfire located on both sides of Highway 22, north of Highway 16. The wildfire is currently burning out of control. The wildfire is estimated to be 2,400 ha in size.
There was no new growth outside on either of these wildfires and very little fire activity was observed.
Patches of unburned vegetation may continue to burn inside the perimeter. Firefighters will often use an indirect attack approach to these challenging wildfires, letting them burn up to a natural break such as a road or a river. This ensures that the remaining vegetation within doesn’t continue to burn later in the season. Residents may see smoldering and flare ups at times within the perimeter. This is a normal occurrence until firefighters contain the fire perimeter to ensure it doesn’t grow, then work their way from the outside edge inwards. Firefighters will need to search for these hotspots, sometimes digging into the ground with their hands and feeling for heat. They use hand tools to dig the spots out and water to extinguish them. Simply putting water on a fire does not extinguish it. This process can take a long time and residents can expect that the fire will remain "out of control" until firefighters are confident that the fire is contained. At that time, the status will be changed to "being held" while they work towards extinguishment.
Deep ash pits and burning peat are dangerous. We ask residents to be extra cautious when near burnt areas.
EWF035 was detected on May 5 and is located 3 km east of Shining Bank. This wildfire is classified as out of control and estimated to be 20,996 ha in size. The fire boundary was re-assessed with a helicopter and the size was changed to reflect the new boundary. The wildfire is now south of Township Road 570, burnt down to the south, two kilometers north of the railroad track in Niton Junction. The fire moved across the Range Rd 123 and burnt up to the Lobstick River.
Firefighters did not observe very much fire activity again today, due to the higher relative humidity, cooler temperatures, and the 32mm of precipitation we received over the past 72 hours. More precipitation will be required to significantly improve the dry conditions. Today’s rain did allow firefighters to continue working on containing the wildfire.
Wildland firefighters continue to work with heavy equipment to contain the wildfire on the southeast section of the fire. They also worked on hot areas near the south-southeast and plan to return tomorrow. A completed containment line made up of dozer guard, natural breaks from East Bank Road to Range Rd 131 is established. Helicopters were available today to assist on the fire and our aircraft were able to fly today.
The complex has 66 wildland firefighters, eight helicopters, 26 pieces of heavy equipment and 25 overhead staff that are part of the incident management team. These personnel consist of heavy equipment coordinators, aircraft supervisors, task force leaders who work with the crews in the field, information officers who share information with the public and other key stakeholders such as industry. It also consists of logistics, facilities and equipment managers who ensure that firefighters are fed, lodged, and have hot showers and tools to do their job safely. A large team like this also requires a finance team to ensure they track costs and payments. The camp is also prepared to receive many more firefighters in the coming weeks and can support up to 153 personnel. There are three other similar camps supporting the two complexes in our forest area.
By: Tara Stephens.
If you have any questions or concerns about the DEEP CREEK COMPLEX please call the Wildfire Information Officer - Caroline Charbonneau at 780-740-1341
Division Supervisor Alex briefing with helicopter pilot before doing an aerial survey of the Deep Creek Wildfire Complex.
(May 23, 2023)
WILD HAY WILDFIRE COMPLEX - EWF037 and EWF040
There are multiple wildfires located south of the Little Smoky River, north of the Wild Hay River and east of Hwy 40 north. These also include the areas near the Willow Haul Road and the Jack Wright Road north of Hinton. These wildfires were formerly reported as five separate fires, but due to more accurate GPS measuring, have been determined to be two larger fires.
EWF037 is being held at 578 ha and EWF040 is being held at 684 ha.
There has been no perimeter growth on this complex is several days. Smoke and flame may still be observed within the interior of both EWF-037 and EWF-040.
This complex is now being patrolled and monitored.
PUBLIC WILDFIRE MAPS
Deep Creek Wildfire Complex (EWF-035, WCU002 and WCU001) May 23, 2023 - public map - Click here. *New map will be available at a later date to reflect new boundary.
Pembina Wildfire Complex (EWF031, EWF039, RWF034, RWF040) May 23 , 2023 - public map - Click here. *this map does not show other wildfire nearby.
EWF031 Wildfire May 21, 2023 - public map - Click here. * this map does not show other wildfire nearby.
Edson Forest Area Fires May 23, 2023 - public map - Click here.
Note: The wildfire perimeter map is an estimate based on measurements such as GPS, aerial scanning and satellite imagery. This estimated perimeter can change as more accurate measurements become available. Areas within the fire perimeter may not have been affected by wildfire.
WILDFIRE LINKS AND TOOLS
Visit our Wildfire Dashboard to view active wildfires and their stats on the wildfire dashboard.
There are multiple EVACUATION ORDERS & ALERTS in the Province. Please visit Alberta Emergency Alerts or your community webpage for more information.
For road closure information, please visit: 511.alberta.ca
The NASA FIRMS Fire Information website is a great resource to give an idea of the location of wildfires in the area, but it should be noted that this data is based on interpolation and often can make a wildfire appear larger than it actually is.
Wildfire smoke is a tool used for the location of smoke firesmoke.ca
DO NOT FLY DRONES NEAR WILDFIRES!
The use of recreational drones over wildfires in Alberta is dangerous, illegal and could result in a fine of up to $15,000* for putting aircraft and people at risk. Please give Alberta firefighters the space they need to do their jobs safely. *Transport Canada
COMMUNITY EMERGENCY INFORMATION | EVACUATIONS
A MESSAGE FROM THE MUNICIPALITIES
If you are evacuating, gather important documents, medication, and enough food and water to be away from home for at least 3 days. Take pets with you.
For updates from Yellowhead County and Town of Edson, please visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/yellowheadcounty or www.yhcounty.ca for updates. Evacuees can call 1-833-334-4630 for more information.
For updates from Parkland County, please visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ParklandCountyAB. Residents in the affected areas can contact the Emergency Information Line at 1-780-968-8888.
For residents with health concerns related to smoke you can find the air quality map here: https://www.alberta.ca/about-the-air-quality-health-index.aspx. If you have smoke related health concerns, please contact AB 811 and click here for more information.
WILDFIRE PREVENTION TIPS
Albertans are always asked to use caution when working or recreating in the outdoors:
- Before you burn it, get your fire permit. Fire permits in Alberta.
- Clear debris from hot spots on your off-highway vehicle.
- Ensure your campfire is out - soak it, stir it, soak it again.
- Before you head out this weekend, check out the albertafirebans.ca website or download the app to stay informed.
ALBERTA WILDFIRE INFORMATION
- Subscribe to the Edson Forest Area wildfire update to receive an email when new information is posted.
- Download the Alberta Wildfire App for Apple and Android device.
- Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
For more information, please contact:
