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 MWF047, MWF056, MWF057, MWF077 and MWF079. All of these wildfires are classified as under control, except for MWF047, MWF077 and MWF079. All of these wildfires were caused by lightning.

There are 269 personnel currently working on this complex, including 158 firefighters, 58 incident management team members, support staff, contractors and pilots. We have 18 helicopters and 30 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 76,081 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.

Today, helicopters were again able to hold the wildfire from spreading towards any facilities.

Dozer guards are being extended as far as possible. They ran into a few areas that were too wet to continue. Plans have been developed to redeploy these dozers to MWF077, which identify the most effective location of the dozer guard.

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 5,481 ha in size.

Today, poor visibility and safety concerns impacted getting crews out onto the line. However, helicopters were able to hold the wildfire fairly well today.

Even though we didn't see the fire behaviour we anticipated, we are still expecting to enter an uptrend of increased fire behaviour. Today, winds were light which helped to not increase fire intensity. However, we still expect challenging firefighting days ahead.

Tomorrow, the forecast predicts a high of 29 degrees Celsius and a low relative humidity of 35%. Winds are expected to come out of the southwest at 15-20 km/h. There's a 30 per cent chance of rain and thundershowers, with only 1-2 mm estimated.

The forecast is predicting conditions conducive to extreme fire behaviour from Wednesday to Friday. This means we can expect some significant fire growth. The forecast for the next few days predict that we will have very challenging firefighting days ahead of us.

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.

Tonight, we again plan to have our nighttime capable helicopter completing bucketing operations overnight. This is a very effective way to fight wildfires since fire activity is subdued.

See the most recent map available for MWF077.

(Fire behaviour was lower than expected today on MWF077, July 15, 2024)

Wildfire MCX003 - Algar Lake Complex

All of the wildfires in this complex have now merged into one wildfire, MWF069. 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

With less smoke and improved visibility over the past weekend, conditions allowed for more accurate mapping of fire MWF069. A more precise fire perimeter can be consulted on the Alberta Wildfire Dashboard, and the size of this fire has officially been remapped to 12,183 hectares.

There was a mix of sun and cloud over the Algar Lake Complex today, relative humidity values remained around the 40-45 per cent range and winds were relatively light. Moderate fire activity was observed.

Tomorrow’s forecast shows a high of 29 degrees Celsius with 35 per cent relative humidity values. Southwesterly winds are expected at 15-20 km/h. There is a 30 per cent chance of precipitation, but only 1-2 mm are forecast. This precipitation is unlikely to have any impact on fire activity, and we expect the potential for high fire behaviour and fire growth.

We continue to anticipate progressively warmer and drier conditions throughout the week, and the continued potential for increasing fire behaviour.

There are 140 personnel from Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick assigned to the Algar Lake Complex. Among them are wildland firefighters, heavy equipment operators, structure protection staff and a 15-person incident management team.

Today, firefighting crews focused on the northeast corner of the fire perimeter, more generally on the east side of the fire. One crew worked to extinguish a few hot spots on the southwestern portion of MWF069. This crew will be joining the rest of firefighters on the northeast portion of the fire tomorrow.

Seven helicopters are assigned to the incident. They continue to work on extinguishing hotspots and completing bucketing operations where required, while supporting wildland firefighting crews on the ground.

A NOTAM is officially in place over MWF069, this applies to all aircraft, including drones. The area around a wildfire is restricted. If you fly in this area without permission you're breaking the law and could endanger firefighters.

Heavy equipment continued to make progress extending and expanding contingency lines on the east side of the fire today.

This complex has created a large smoke column which has been visible in Fort McMurray and surrounding areas. Smoke is expected to increase this week due to the forecast conditions.

(Structure protection crews assigned to the Algar Lake Complex play an important role in wildfire operations. This photo of the Global Fire Rescue Services team was taken this afternoon, July 15, 2024)

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.

MCX004 - Rabbit Lake Complex

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 complex. Fire behaviour was lower today, which allowed crews to make progress on this complex.

(The Rabbit Lake complex was fairly quiet for fire behaviour, July 15, 2024)

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 81 wildfires in the Fort McMurray Forest Area, burning a total of approximately 132,047 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 (Water Bombers)

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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