A DRONE IN THE SKY MEANS WE CAN'T FLY!
Information Stations | Deep Creek Complex | May 18 & 19
Due to the current dry grass, warm weather and possible windy conditions, there is an increased risk of wildfires in the Edson Forest Area. We urge residents and visitors to exercise extra caution when working and recreating.
Previous Edson Forest Area Updates - Click here
AB Wildfire currently has 2,584 boxes of 100 ft hose being used on various wildfires in the Edson Forest Area. That works out to be approximately 80 km! There's also 53 Mark III water pumps out on the lines. (May 18, 2023)
DEEP CREEK COMPLEX INFORMATION STATION
Tara will be hosting an information station tomorrow, look for the orange wildfire tent at the following locations:
FRIDAY MAY 19, 2023
Evansburg Provincial Building - 4921 50 Street | 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Wildwood Fire Hall (across street) | 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Niton Junction Gas Stations (Hwy 16) | 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
GENERAL INFORMATION ON WILDFIRES IN OUR AREA
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 will be growth on many of the wildfires throughout the Edson Forest Area.
Smoke will be heavy again today and tomorrow in the areas of Wildwood, Lobstick, Hansonville, Evansburg and Entwistle. Lingering smoke will be seen along highway 16 and highway 22 and in affected communities. A smoke inversion happens when cooler air is trapped near the ground by a layer of warmer air above it and the inversion will keep smoke close the ground level. Smoke inversions can cause dangerous driving conditions and impact 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!
These wildfires remain under investigation. To learn more about wildfire classifications, click here.
FIRESMART BEGINS AT HOME
Using FireSmart principles is becoming a way of life for many communities in North America. With so many neighborhoods threatened by wildfire each year, residents are taking action and reducing the risk to their homes, cabins and properties.
We strongly encourage those with homes, cabins and other structures to FireSmart their properties to limit the impacts of a potential wildfire reaching your door step. To learn more on how you can protect your home and structures from wildfire, visit firesmartcanada.ca or click here to watch videos. FireSmart Canada has also developed a FREE one-hour course for those who are getting started with FireSmart. Click here to learn more.
For those that have farm or acreages, this publication may be helpful to keep you FireSmart. Click on the link for the Farm and Acreage FireSmart Magazine.
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 82,666 ha in size. Containment line is established on the northwest tip of the fire.
There were 77 firefighters and support staff being shared between this fire and EWF039. There were 34 pieces of heavy equipment, and eight helicopters assigned to the complex. An airtanker group was still assigned to this fire. This group is composed of one birddog and five skimmers.
There has been no significant growth on the north and east sides of the fire. Some growth has occurred on the west side in the southwest direction resembling fingers. A finger is defined as an elongated burned area projecting from the main body of the fire resulting in an irregular fire perimeter.
The aerial ignition opportunity around Minnow Lake was not conducted today. Personnel observing the area were working with ignition specialists to plan future operations. Aerial ignition operations will only occur if favourable conditions are available. Ground crews continued to conduct small scale ground ignitions to clean up previous ignition operations along containment lines. The purpose of these ignitions is to remove remaining fuel in between the fire perimeter and containment lines in a controlled manner.
In the northwest, from Repsol Road to the Trans Canada Pipeline, crews were demobilizing line today. Heavy equipment completed the containment line from Wolf Creek to Minnow Lake East Road and Delmar Road south towards Dora’s Corner. Today, operations continued around Minnow Lake where containment line was built when conditions permitted heavy equipment operations.
Today, smoke remained in the area and provided a smoke screen throughout the complex, allowing temperatures to be cool and relative humidity to increase. There is a chance of showers and a slight thundershower risk near the front as winds rapidly shift to the northwest behind it.
EWF039 located near Carrot Creek, is currently being held. The fire is currently estimated to be 216 ha. 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 67,042 ha in size. There were 57 firefighters and support staff working on this fire. There were three helicopters assigned to the fire and three additional helicopters assigned to the complex. In addition, there were 23 pieces of heavy equipment.
The eastern portion of the south side of this fire saw some growth over the last two days. In cutblocks adjacent to the reservoir, surface fires, crown fires, and long range spotting were observed. The north side of the fire (near the Brazeau Dam Reservoir) experienced less severe fire behavior.
Crews were working on the south side with hose on established containment line to remove any hotspots in the area. The priority for this fire continues to be on the south side, on established containment line. Direct attack is still being used when safe. Smoldering ground fires were observed early this morning. Crews are working on hotspots and gridding to detect any remaining activity in this area in order to establish containment lines.
Today, smoke remained in the area and provided a smoke screen throughout the complex, allowing temperatures to be cool and relative humidities to increase. There is a chance of showers and a slight thundershower risk near the front as winds rapidly shift to the northwest behind it.
RWF040 is located 6 km northeast of the Forestry Trunk Road and Brown Creek Provincial Recreational Area and is classified as out of control. There were 76 firefighters and support staff shared between this fire and RWF034. The fire is currently estimated to be 2,836 ha in size. The updated size is attributed to some fire growth that occurred in the south and because of more accurate mapping.
If you have any questions or concerns about the PEMBINA COMPLEX please call the Wildfire Information Officer Sarah Hall at 250-318-8375.
DEEP CREEK WILDFIRE COMPLEX – EWF035, WCU001 & WCU002
An incident management team from the U.S Forest Service along with many of their firefighters have arrived on May 14 to assist our area with one of the three wildfire complexes in the area. We want to thank our American friends for coming to assist us. A special arrangement has been in place for many years between Canada, the U.S, Australia and other countries that have similar firefighting training standards. We take safety and training very seriously and always seek to improve our operations.
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.
Patches of unburned vegetation may burn inside the perimeter of the fire and large smoke columns may be seen coming from within the fire perimeter. Helicopters will action these flare-ups as required throughout the day using bucketing operations.
Wildfire crews continue working in areas of deep peat south of WCU001 that are within the fire perimeter. Highway 16 will experience smoke from the active wildfire zone due to the hotspots near the highway.
There wasn't as much fire activity observed on WCU001 today.
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 of the fire perimeter detected. Patches of unburned fuel within the boundaries flared up again and were actioned with helicopter bucketing operations.
Smoke will continue be very visible to residents in the area which is being produced from the interior of the fire. These areas of unburnt fuel are surrounded by burned out areas and are within the perimeter boundary. The smoke can be a benefit, dampening the wildfire behaviour but can cause health concerns. If you're experiencing smoke related health concerns, you can contact AB 811. Smoke will linger along Highway 16 as crews work to extinguish hotspots. The wildfire has stayed south of Township Road 550 and east of Range Road 92 and west of Range Road 75. Alberta Wildfire and Yellowhead County are actioning this wildfire.
Some fire activity was seen on WCU002, airtankers were assisting the firefighters earlier today.
Airtankers assisting firefighters on WCU002 as fire activity picked up again today. (May 18, 2023)
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 5,951 ha in size. The wildfire is south of Township Road 570, west of Range Road 123, north and a small southern section of Township Road 560, and east of Shining Bank Lake.
There was new growth on the south perimeter again today and the fire continues to creep towards the west as the winds come out of the east-southeast. Firefighters expect the fire to burn towards the northeast tomorrow morning and change direction and head towards the southeast due to northwest winds by noon. The winds are expected to be 15-20 km/h gusting to 40. The movement of the fire towards the southeast isn’t expected to be as intense, since low, wet spruce bogs are more frequent on that side of the fire and should slow the fire behaviour.
EWF035 has various priorities that firefighters need to focus on. One is to monitor and extinguish hotspots on the north side of the wildfire, to mitigate the spread northwards towards properties and beyond.
An earlier priority is nearly complete. Firefighters and heavy equipment operators successfully established a large dozer on guard on the east side of the wildfire from 560 north to 570 and is currently bringing this line to the fire, removing the unburnt fuel and ensure that there’s no fuel there for the fire to get into and take off again. This will prevent the fire from moving towards the east and into farmland if the winds were to change again in the coming days. Residents will notice a lot of smoke from these hand ignition burns, as trees burn in a controlled manner on the south east of the fire line between 560 and 570.
Firefighters were also successful in taking the fire down to the 560, removing that fuel so that section of fire doesn’t take off at a later date. They anchored the fire to both the east and west side along the 560 which will help later on.
The fire did get across Twp Rd 560 yesterday through a small section on the 560. The fire is not burning the forest in a continuous pattern, it’s “hopping and skipping”, mostly through spruce stands which are very flammable, especially in these weather conditions. In this area, the fire is burning easily through conifer (spruce) stands but slows down when it reaches deciduous (poplar/aspen) stands, or low, wet and swampy stand. Fortunately, the wildfire slows down when it reaches cut blocks as it has no substantial fuel to burn.
Heavy equipment were attempting to put in containment line ahead of the fire to the south yesterday but had to retreat and re-establish in a new location due to the fire behaviour and it’s rate of spread. Dozer operators and land owners are also assisting with a dozer line to help contain the fire from the 560 moving south along East Bank Road, on the east side of the road. Although we appreciate the help from the public where possible, this is a special situation where the land owners are able to work closely with industry in ensuring the safety of the pipelines and the operators. Airtankers could not be used on the west side of the fire today as smoke was too heavy, hanging over the interior of the fire and out onto the west side.
The south side of the fire was assisted with firefighters, airtankers and helicopters with buckets. Good progress was made, the fire did get over east bank road in a small section and firefighters are working to contain the spot over. The airtankers were able to lay retardant along the south side where the smoke wasn’t as thick.
We ask that you stay out of these areas, if aircraft see members of the public near burning areas, they cannot do their job effectively. You may be unintentionally impeding our operations, please give our firefighters the room and time they need to complete their tasks.
A new map is available below. You can also use the NASA Link, which can be a useful tool. Be aware that the system may project ahead of itself, making the wildfire look larger than it is.
Aircraft will continue to report heightened wildfire activity areas to the ground and resources will work on priority areas.
Yellowhead County has reported that structural protection crews have been initiating their system over the last several days and are now prepared to action approximately 100 homes. Special flagging of different colours marked ‘SPU’ are set up on these properties to help firefighters identify operations for that property. This is to identify the placement of pumps and structural protection sprinklers. Please do not remove the flagging. Woodlands County and the Whitecourt Fire Department have also installed sprinkler protection on houses in the immediate area of EWF035 and will continue to monitor the situation as it continues. Woodlands County has strategically placed staff for night watch on EWF-035 to monitor for fire activity after dark. Alberta Wildfire is assisting Yellowhead County and Woodlands County with this wildfire.
The Deep Creek Complex has a total of 44 firefighters plus 19 incident management firefighters working with 27 pieces of heavy equipment on this complex. Additionally, eight helicopters are assisting the wildfire with aerial assessments and performing bucket operations on the complex.
By: Caroline Charbonneau.
If you have any questions or concerns about the DEEP CREEK COMPLEX please call the Wildfire Information Officer - Caroline Charbonneau at 780-740-1341.
The fire is skipping and jumping to different forest stands, not burning continuously through the forest. EWF035 along Rg Rd 131 (May 18, 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 out of control at 578 ha and EWF040 is out of control at 684 ha.
There was less fire activity yesterday and today on the complex today which allowed crews to make great progress on extinguishing hotspots and building dozer guard. Crews were able to work in unburned areas of the fire where they cooled down some spots that have potential to flare-up. Bucketing operations worked ahead of the heavy equipment groups as they were moving further up the containment lines.
The containment line is now complete around EWF-037. Heavy equipment groups were able to access fire EWF-040 today. They will continue to focus on building containment line this evening and tomorrow.
There were 3 helicopters, 6 pieces of heavy equipment and 4 wildfire personnel working on this complex today.
Great progress was made on the Wildhay Wildfire Complex. EWF-037 is now fully wrapped in containment line (May 18, 2023)
PUBLIC WILDFIRE MAPS
Edson Forest Area Overview Map - May 17, 2023 - public map - Click here.
Deep Creek Wildfire Complex (EWF-035, WCU002 and WCU001) May 17, 2023 - public map - Click here.
EWF035 Wildfire May 17, 2023 - public map - Click here.
Pembina Wildfire Complex (EWF031, EWF039, RWF034, RWF040) May 17, 2023 - public map - Click here.
EWF031 Wildfire May 17, 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: https://511.alberta.ca/#:Alerts
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
PROVINCIAL STATE OF EMERGENCY
Hot, dry conditions continue in most areas of the province resulting in numerous wildfires. A provincial state of emergency has been declared. Albertans who require assistance can call 310-4455 for wildfire related information - Click here.
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
VOLUNTEER INFORMATION
Volunteers, equipment owners/operators or firefighters looking to assist with these wildfires or any of the wildfires within the province, please contact EmergencySupportOffers@gov.ab.ca. Please do not contact Edson Forest Area logistics directly, as they are extremely busy supporting the wildfire situation in the area. Thank you.
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:
