WILDFIRE UPDATE

There have been 69 wildfires in the Peace River Forest Area this fire season, and each of these wildfires has now been extinguished with the exception of those below:

WILDFIRES OF NOTE: (update as of 1800 hours Thursday)

Battle Complex (Notikewin and Battle River wildfires):

Current size: 21,000 ha

The photos below:

(left) Section of the fire break along the east side of PWF 052 near Manning.

(Right) Fire retardant (dark line in front of the smoke) contains hot spots on PWF 052 near Manning until crews can get on the ground to attack the fire directly.  

• PWF 052 remains out of control in the Notikewin Area. 
  • This fire is located roughly 10 kilometers northwest of the town of Manning. 
  • Dozers were busy over the past 24 hours working the southeast side where the fire was active early in the day. 
  • They were reinforced by tankers laying lines of retardant in a harvested area until dozers were to build a break around the fire in the area.
  • A second group of dozers were deployed along the Stowe Creek Road widening the fire break and containing the excursion took during the night.
  • Crews were also implementing prescribed burns in the grazing lease today to reduce the risk of spread in advance of the expected wind shifts this coming weekend.
  • Aerial ignition members were successful in their prescribed burn activities in the afternoon strengthening the break on the east side of the fire south of the Hotchkiss River.
  • Weather for Saturday is providing crews one more good day to build on successes along the eastern edge of the fire to strengthen the guard before west winds begin moving over the fire Sunday, Monday and into Tuesday.
  • The forecast for Saturday is for a high of 18 degrees Celsius with a relative humidity of 15 per cent and winds continuing north-to-northeast at 20 kilometers per hour (kph) gusting to 30 kph.
  • The prediction for Sunday is a return to a Red Flag Weather Warning with a high temperature of 24 degrees Celsius with 10 per cent relative humidity and southwest winds 20-25 kph gusting to 35 kph. Aggressive fire behaviour is expected on Sunday.
  • The Incident Management Team currently on the fire will be transitioning out this weekend; replaced by a team from British Columbia. That handover will be finalized Saturday.
• PWF 054 remains being held at 74 hectares in size in the Battle River area.  This fire is on patrol status.

Tomorrow is a RED FLAG WATCH day.  This means a weather event tomorrow is expected that could pose a critical degree of danger to fireline personnel and the public. Tomorrow’s deep crossover position (temp higher than humidity) and winds mean fire behavior will be drastically impacted by the weather. 

Tomorrow is going to be another significant day for the Battle Complex. Safety of our firefighters and the public is of paramount importance. When and if the head of the fire becomes too intense to work on, we will redirect crews and equipment to safer areas, while we continue to work on areas of the fire that need strengthening in anticipation of west winds next weekend.

Battle Complex Map 

For updates on efforts being taken by municipal fire fighters to provide structural protection and emergency preparedness information, please visit the County of Northern Lights website.

 OTHER WILDFIRES IN THE AREA:

• PWF 043 is extinguished.
• PWF 062 is extinguished.
• PWF 064 has been turned over to the landowner.
• PWF 066 has been turned over to the landowner.

For your safety and the safety of the numerous firefighters working to contain these wildfires, please stay out of the area if you do not need to be there.

For information on the wildfire situation across the province of Alberta, visit: wildfire.alberta.ca.

FIRE PERMITS SUSPENDED

 Fire permits have been suspended, effective 1800 hours, May 16.