Fort McMurray Forest Area Wildfire Update

The wildfire danger level is extreme for south of Lake Athabasca, high for north of lake Athabasca, and very high for Fort Fitzgerald within the Fort McMurray Forest Area.

A fire ban is in effect for the entire Fort McMurray Forest Area.

Hangingstone Provincial Recreation Area and Richardson Wildland Park have been closed to the public effective immediately.

A lightning storm came through the Fort McMurray Area last night that caused a number of new wildfires. Use extreme caution when recreating outdoors.

67% of wildfires are human-caused, everyone plays a role in preventing wildfires. Take the wildfire pledge to reduce wildfires and be entered to win a helicopter tour! Go to alberta.ca/wildfire-pledge.

Wildfire MCX002 - Cattail Complex

There are several wildfires that are all being managed together under MCX002. This includes MWF046, MWF047, MWF048, MWF051 and MWF054. All of these wildfires are classified as under control, except for MWF047 and MWF077. All of these wildfires were caused by lightning.

MWF047 is the largest wildfire that's included in this complex and is classified as out of control. It is estimated to be 69,959 ha in size.

At this time, this wildfire remains approximately 8 km northeast of industrial facilities, about 50 km northeast of Fort McKay and 70 km northeast of Fort McMurray.

There are 256 personnel currently working on this complex, including 143 firefighters, 31 incident management team members, as well as support staff, contractors and pilots. We have 18 helicopters and 16 pieces of heavy equipment working this complex.

Today, we had significant cloud cover for the first part of the day, which helped to keep fire activity subdued. However, fire activity did pick up near the end of the day and we expect to see some growth.

Crews continue to work towards strengthening the south and west perimeter of the wildfire. Helicopters continue to bucket on hotspots identified by crews.

The dozer guard that heavy equipment operators have been working on has now been completed and is approximately 5-6 blade lengths wide. They will continue to clear fuel in other areas where needed.

See the most recent map available for MWF047.

MWF077 is apart of this complex. It was discovered on July 11, is classified as out of control and is estimated to be 4,609 ha in size.

This wildfire did not have the cloud cover that MWF047 had and had more intense fire behaviour throughout the day. We saw some fire growth to the southeast.

An ignition operation was completed today on the northern perimeter of the wildfire. The intent of this operation was to draw it to the east and west cutline. This operation was supported with heavy helicopters.

Today, a birddog aircraft assessed the area around this wildfire to see if skimmers could find water bodies to be able to refill and complete water bombing operations. Unfortunately, there were no nearby and large enough water bodies to be successful. Crews weren't able to work on this wildfire today due to safety reasons.

Operation personnel are creating a structure protection plan in the event it is needed. They start planning for this early as structure protection teams and the equipment needed can take time to arrive.

A scan was completed again last night for MWF047 and MWF077 and identified fire growth and hotspots. These scans are crucial for prioritizing resources to the parts of the wildfire that require it most.

Tomorrow, the forecast predicts a high of 23 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of 35 per cent. We expect winds to come out of the west at 10 km/h. No precipitation is forecasted.

See the most recent map available for MWF077.

(MWF047 was showing some significant fire behaviour today, July 13, 2024)

Wildfire MCX003 - Algar Lake Complex

All of the wildfires in this complex have now all merged into one wildfire, MWF069, which is a combined size of approximately 14,500 ha. These merged wildfires were discovered on July 10, were caused by lightning and are classified as out of control.

This merged wildfire is located approximately:

11 km west of Highway 63
40 km southwest of Fort McMurray

Currently, we have 65 personnel working on this complex, most are firefighters. We also have 5 helicopters working on extinguishing hotspots and completing bucketing operations.

Firefighters are working in strategic locations along the perimeter to try and contain this wildfire. Last night, we also had our nighttime capable helicopter bucketing overnight.

A camp has been set up for the existing personnel and incoming incident management team from Ontario.

Tomorrow, the forecast predicts a high of 19 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of 60 per cent. We expect winds to come out of the northwest at 10 km/h. If we do get the low temperatures, high humidities, and light winds, fire behaviour is likely to be low.

This complex has created a large smoke column which is visible in Fort McMurray and surrounding areas. Download the 511 app to stay up to date on any road closures in Alberta. This wildfire could impact visibility on Highway 63, always drive with extreme caution.

IMG_1212-1 (The incoming incident management team from Ontario gets briefed before making their way to the Algar Lake Complex, July 13, 2024)

SKIMMERS

If you're planning to be out on the lake this weekend, please keep in mind that skimmer planes are often using various lakes to refill with water.

This is another critical resource for firefighting operations, so we ask anyone on water bodies to stay alert and watch out for skimmers. If you see a skimmer coming towards a water body, ensure you get within 30 metres of shore so they can safely refill.

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Fire Ban banner

A fire ban is in effect as of 4 p.m. on July 10 in the entire Forest Protection Area of Alberta, including the Fort McMurray Forest Area, due to hot and dry conditions.

Cities, towns, villages and summer villages, as well as federal lands (such as national parks), are exempt from this ban. These jurisdictions have the authority to issue their own bans and may have complementary bans in place.

Under this fire ban:

All fire permits are suspended or cancelled.
No new fire permits will be issued.
Some allowances can be made for essential agricultural and industrial burning, if approved by a forest officer.

Prohibited:

All outdoor wood fires, including wood campfires on public land, private land, designated campgrounds, and backyard firepits
Barbeque charcoal briquettes
Fireworks and exploding targets

Allowed:

Propane/natural gas-powered appliances
Indoor wood fires inside a structure (such as a facility, building, tent or RV) and contained within a device with a chimney and spark arrestor
Open flame oil devices (such as deep fryers and tiki torches). All devices must be CSA approved and used per manufacturer’s standards.

We want to remind everyone that along with the rest of the forest area, there should be absolutely no wood campfires, charcoal barbeque, fireworks, or exploding targets in the Richardson backcountry. Conditions are very dry and hot and we want to reduce the chance of new wildfires starting.

If you see a wildfire, report it immediately by calling 310-FIRE.

The fire ban will remain in effect until conditions improve.

See the fire ban factsheet.

More information on the fire ban for Fort McMurray's Urban Service Area

For more information, visit Alberta Fire Bans.

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See the forecasted fire danger map

FORT MCMURRAY WILDFIRE UPDATE

Since January 1, 2024 there have been 79 wildfires in the Fort McMurray Forest Area, burning a total of approximately 124,085 hectares (ha).

Rabbit Lake Wildfire- (MWF060, MWF078, and MWF074) is located approximately 8 km east of the Slave Lake Forest Area border and the Fort McMurray Forest Area border. It is classified as out of control and is estimated to be 4750 ha in size. This wildfire was caused by lightning. Currently, we have 20 firefighters and five helicopters working to contain this wildfire.

MWF067 was discovered on July 10 and is located approximately 4 km southwest of Gregoire Lake 176. It is classified as being held and is currently 0.2 ha in size. This wildfire was caused by lightning.

MWF068 was discovered on July 10 and is located approximately 4.5 km east of the High Level Forest Area border and 13 km north of the Slave Lake Forest Area border. It is classified as being held and is estimated to be 100 ha in size. This wildfire was caused by lightning.

MWF043 was discovered on July 2 and is located approximately 18 km west of the Athabasca River and 56 km south of the southern Wood Buffalo National Park border. It is classified as being held and is estimated to be 150 ha in size. This wildfire was caused by lightning.

MWF045 was discovered on July 2 and is located approximately 23 km south of the Wood Buffalo National Park border. It is classified as being held and is estimated to be 2,300 ha in size. This wildfire was caused by lightning.

MWF056 was discovered July 3 and is located approximately 41 km north of the cattail complex (MCX002). It is classified as being held and is estimated to be 400 ha in size. This wildfire was caused by lightning.

MWF057 was discovered July 3 and is located approximately 65 km east of Fort McKay and approximately 70 km northeast of Fort McMurray. It is classified as being held and is estimated to be 13.8 ha in size. This wildfire was caused by lightning.

MWF010 was discovered on April 21 and is located near the Birch Mountains. It is classified as under control at 7,976 ha in size. This means that this wildfire is contained and will be extinguished. This wildfire was human-caused.

MWF017 was discovered on May 9 and is located southwest of Fort McMurray. It is classified as under control at 18,593 ha. This means that this wildfire is contained and will be extinguished. The cause of this wildfire remains under investigation.

MWF065 was discovered July 9 and is located approximately 7 km southeast of Highway 63 and approximately 3.4 km from Maqua Lake. It is classified as under control and is estimated to be 6 ha in size. This wildfire was caused by lightning.

For up-to-date information on the current wildfire situation, visit Alberta Wildfire Status.

DRONES are not allowed to be flown within 5 nautical miles (or 9.3 kilometers) of a wildfire.

If you fly a drone within this distance of a wildfire, it immediately halts firefighting operations because it is not safe to be flying with drones in the air. The penalty for interfering with wildfire control operations can land you a court appearance, for more information go to the Government of Alberta website.
For more information from Transport Canada about drones near wildfires, visit Transport Canada's website.

310-FIRE flames trees

Over the past few days, we have had more than 20 new wildfire starts and most of them were caused by lightning.

Now that we are experiencing more lightning, this is a good reminder of how essential it is for everyone to report any wildfires they see in the forest to 310-FIRE.

The sooner a potential wildfire is reported, the sooner we can get a crew out to assess and start working on it and send more resources if required. This is critical for ensuring an efficient response to any wildfires that start.

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