Lac La Biche Area Update

Wildfire Danger MODERATE for Lac La Biche Forest Area - June 21, 2019 (12:30 p.m)

Posted on Fri, Jun 21, 2019

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The wildfire danger in the Lac La Biche Forest Area is MODERATE. 

Kettle Creek June 21 AM

Hardly any fire activity is observed on The Kettle Creek Wildfire today.  Firefighters are expecting very little fire behavior, allowing for great progress on building containment lines. June 21, 2019. 

Current Situation

There are currently 3 active wildfires in the Lac La Biche Area.  

LWF122 is classified as under control and is 0.25 hectares in size.  There are currently five firefighters working on this fire.

LWF126 is classified as under control, 7.2 hectares in size and located 15 km west of Foster Creek Plant.  There are five firefighters and 1 helicopter working on this fire.

So far this season we've had 126 wildfires in the area.

Kettle Creek Wildfire | June 21, 2019 (12:30 p.m)

The Kettle Creek Wildfire (LWF123) is currently classified as Being Held and located 35 km northwest of Janvier.  The wildfire size remains at 1,912 hectares and not anticipated to grow at this time. 

Heavy equipment and firefighters have been busy building dozer guard on the west side of the fire.  They are also completing a small section on the northeast side to secure containment.  

Firefighters have been re-position to the northwest and northeast to extinguish hotspots and reinforce existing fireguard using pumps, hoses and other hand tools.

On other parts of the fire, firefighters are working with air support doing helicopter bucketing in order to put out detected hotspots.

Smoke may be seen from the northern edge of the fire but firefighters are confident that fire behavior will be calm throughout the day.

There are currently 75 firefighters, nine helicopters and six pieces of heavy equipment on the fire.


The fire ban and OHV restrictions have been lifted for the Lac La Biche Forest Area. 

Before you go out, make sure to check out the albertafirebans.ca website or download the app for up to date changes and be informed as to what's happening in areas outside of the Lac La Biche Forest Protection Area.

Fire permits are reinstated.  Be sure to follow the conditions on the back of your permits. No burning with winds greater than 15 km/hr.


The Provincial Situation

  • There are currently 22 wildfires in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta. 4 are out of control, 4 are being held, 11 are under control and 3 have been turned over to the responsible parties.
  • Since March 1, 2019, Alberta has recorded 642 wildfires in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta that have burned a total of 802,818.82 hectares.
  • Firefighters from British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Parks Canada and the United States.
  • Agriculture and Forestry has the following resources deployed on wildfires or pre-positioned across the province ready to action new wildfires:  2268 firefighters and support staff, 203 helicopters, 22 airtankers and 302 pieces of heavy equipment.
     

It's lightning season!  With the very dry ground conditions, and the absence of substantial rain, Mother Nature has the potential to cause some wildfires due to lightning.  Help us get the jump on these fires early, before they have a chance to get too big.  If you see smoke or fire in the forest, please call 310-FIRE.

Campfire Ad HI RES

If you spot a wildfire, call 310-FIRE! 

For more information on the wildfire situation across the province of Alberta

Your next update will be this evening on Friday, June 21.

Thanks for doing your part to prevent wildfire.  For more information, contact:

1-866-394-3473