Fort McMurray Forest Area Wildfire Update

The wildfire danger level is extreme across 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.

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.

There are 274 personnel currently working on this complex, including 166 firefighters, 58 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.

MWF047 is the largest wildfire that's included in this complex and is classified as out of control. It is estimated to be 72,271 ha in size.

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

Starting tomorrow, and for the next few days, we expect fire behaviour to pick up earlier in the day and will continue burning later into the evening.

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. 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 4,963 ha in size.

This wildfire remains approximately 41 km southeast of Fort McKay, about 40 km northeast of Fort McMurray.

Today, we had two crews working the northwest corner moving east of the perimeter, with bucketing operations to support that work. The wildfire responded well to the airtankers that sprayed on the west side today and slowed fire growth effectively.

Structure protections teams are assessing infrastructure nearby this wildfire to allocate resources efficiently.

Today, we saw some fire behaviour but don't anticipate major fire growth. The eastern and western perimeters were the most active.

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.

The higher humidity and lower temperature, paired with light and favourable winds, allowed crews to make good progress on this wildfire.

Tomorrow, and for the next few days, we expect to enter an uptrend of fire behaviour. The forecast for tomorrow predicts a high of 27 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of 30 per cent. Winds are expected out of the southwest at 15 km/hour. No precipitation is expected in the near future, predicting that we will have very challenging firefighting days ahead of us.

See the most recent map available for MWF077.

(Fire activity stayed moderately low today on MWF047, July 14, 2024)

Wildfire MCX003 - Algar Lake Complex

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

This merged wildfire is located approximately:

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

As of Sunday afternoon, we have 80 personnel working on this incident, the majority of which are firefighters and a 15-person incident management team. At this time, seven helicopters are assigned to the Algar Lake Complex. They continue to work on extinguishing hotspots and completing bucketing operations where required, while supporting wildland firefighting crews on the ground.

Firefighting teams are working in strategic locations along the perimeter to limit further fire spread and suppress the fire. Today the crews concentrated on the northeast corner, western side and southeastern portion of MWF069.

Heavy equipment continues to work east of the fire, working southward.

A camp that was established yesterday for the existing personnel is expanding its capacity.

Weather conditions are forecast to become warmer and drier as the week progresses. Tomorrow, temperatures nearing the mid-twenty mark can be expected with a low relative humidity of 45%. Winds are expected to be southwesterly at 10 to 15 km/h. There is no precipitation anticipated.

This complex has created a large smoke column which has been visible in Fort McMurray and surrounding areas. Fire activity has lessened over the past couple of days due to comparatively cooler and more humid weather, but it is expected to increase throughout the week due to the forecast conditions.

The most active portions of the fire today were on the southwestern and northeastern corners.

Smoke may become more visible in the coming days, as fire behavior may increase.

(July 14, 2024)

Alberta Wildfire has resource sharing agreements that allows us to quickly get resources as required from across the country. It also allows us to assist other provinces or internationally when needed.

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.

Rabbit Lake Wildfire- (MWF060, MWF078, and MWF074)

MWF060 is located approximately 6 km east of the Slave Lake Forest Area border and the Fort McMurray Forest Area border and estimated to be 4750 ha in size. This wildfire is classified as out of control and was caused by lightning.

MWF074 is located northeast of MWF060, is 0.2 ha in size and is classified as out of control.

MWF078 is located southwest of MWF060, is 120 ha in size, and is classified as out of control.

Currently, we have 20 firefighters and five helicopters working to contain this wildfire.

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 80 wildfires in the Fort McMurray Forest Area, burning a total of approximately 129,826 hectares (ha).

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 out of control and is estimated to be 150 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.

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.

MWF067 was discovered on July 10 and is located approximately 4 km southwest of Gregoire Lake 176. It is classified as under control and is currently 0.3 ha in size. This wildfire was caused by lightning.

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

SAFETY AROUND 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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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.

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