Category Archives: Forest Fires

Fire crews are facing a challenging day as a wildfire encroaches on the town of Swan Hills in northern Alberta. An evacuation order was issued shortly after 6 p.m. Monday as the flames of the Edith Lake wildfire drew closer to the town of more than 1,300 people. A wildfire detected Sunday is now burning out of control seven kilometres from the edge of town, which is nestled in the boreal forest about 220 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. The blaze, fanned by powerful and unpredictable winds, has burned close to 2,300 hectares since it was first spotted. A provincial fire weather forecast is predicting gusty and shifting winds and rising temperatures on Tuesday and the national fire danger is listed as extreme across much of the province. As of noon Tuesday, there were seven out-of-control wildfires in Alberta.

BC Wildfire Service are handling a new wildfire discovered on Saturday afternoon west of Princeton. Fire Information Officer Shae Stearns said they have one initial attack crew and a response officer on site, along with one helicopter assisting with water tanking. The fire is near Arrastra Creek and behind Black Mine Road. The fire is estimated at just over one hectare in size and is classified at out of control. The fire is believed to be human-caused, but further details on how the fire started are not known. …As of Friday, May 16, category 3 open fires were ordered prohibited across the Kamloops Fire Centre.

Hot weather, dry conditions and very windy days have caused multiple fires to erupt in Manitoba, forcing people out of their homes and burning buildings — and forecast rain is not enough to help much, fire officials say. There are 24 active fires, six of them requiring significant response, said Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister for the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization. “This is an extremely dynamic time for us,” she said at a briefing on Wednesday afternoon. “The message that we want to send out to Manitobans today is that if you do not need to be in the parks and if you do not need to be in the areas where first responders need to access, we are asking you to stay away.” Six states of emergency have been declared and five provincial parks, three local authorities, three northern communities and 24 cottage subdivisions have issued mandatory evacuation orders.

Some residents of a community in eastern Manitoba were asked to leave their property out of concerns a nearby wildfire may threaten their homes should winds turn their way. People living in the Rural Municipality of Alexander between Hill Road and the Bird River bridge were advised to evacuate Monday afternoon after a fire began north of the Bird River area. Chief administrative officer Gisele Smith said the number of people who may have had to evacuate is currently unknown. …The province is also closing Highway 314 through Nopiming Provincial Park bordering the RM to the northeast amid a separate fire. The government said Monday afternoon the fire is currently about 400 hectares and that crews are working on it. …This is the second fire the RM of Alexander has had to deal with in recent weeks.

Wildfire crews from British Columbia are expected to join first responders in Manitoba on Monday to help them battle the largest out-of-control blaze in the province at the moment. “We are at the place right now and, and in this season with current conditions and activity on the landscape that we can provide these couple of unit crews,” B.C. Wildfire Service spokesperson Erika Berg told CBC News on Sunday. The fire — one of two blazes north of The Pas, a town more than 500 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg … grew from 100 hectares to 6,600 within four days. Premier Wab Kinew first announced the deployment of B.C. crews in Manitoba on Friday at an unrelated news conference where he thanked the province for its support. 

FORT NELSON, B.C. — A holdover fire near Fort Nelson has grown by more than 50 hectares. According to the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) website, the fire – located northwest of the Fort Nelson river – has now burned a total of 55 hectares. The blaze – a holdover wildfire from last year – was initially measured as having burned just 0.5 hectares when it was first rediscovered on Saturday, May 3rd. Despite being a holdover, the BCWS listed it as if it were a new fire due to it becoming more active. It’s currently “out of control,” meaning it’s anticipated to continue spreading. According to BCWS, crews are currently on site to assess whether or not the fire will stay within the area that it burned last year, and firefighters are ready to respond if it does.

The number of wildfires in British Columbia has roughly doubled over the past several days, but an information officer with the BC Wildfire Service says the activity can be attributed to the annual “spring dip.” Amanda Graves says the phenomenon is caused by a decrease in moisture in the needles of coniferous trees. She says it comes shortly after the snow has melted, but before vegetation “begins to get really green.” But Graves says it’s too soon to say whether recent fires are an indicator of what’s to come this wildfire season. The BC Wildfire Service dashboard shows there were 46 active fires as of midday Monday, six of which started in the previous 24 hours and 80 per cent of which were human-caused. Graves noted that B.C. doesn’t typically get much lightning at this time of year, which explains why most fires in the spring are human-caused.

An out-of-control wildfire in Sturgeon County, Alta., has burned down one house, scattered animals and forced residents to standby ready to evacuate. The county issued an evacuation notice Saturday evening, warning residents to prepare to flee in case conditions worsen. Shortly after midnight, the county declared a state of local emergency. “We’re just keeping people safe and trying to protect property,” Mayor Alanna Hnatiw told CBC Radio’s Daybreak Alberta on Sunday. The evacuation notice affects people living around the Redwater Provincial Recreation Area, about 60 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. Late Saturday night, RCMP issued news releases saying officers from multiple departments were responding. Emergency personnel were helping people evacuate, but police didn’t specify how many.

As conditions across BC continue to warm up, some of the massive wildfires that burned in the province’s north last season are beginning to become active once again. Known as “overwintering fires,” these burn deep underground into the organic matter of the forest floor through the winter months, covered by snow, before resurfacing in the spring time. The BC Wildfire Service says several overwintering fires in Northern B.C. have become more active and are producing smoke. Two of the fires that crews are focusing their efforts on include one along Highway 77, north of Fort Nelson, and another along the Fort Nelson River. “Response officers are assessing whether the fire will stay within last year’s burn area or could spread further.  …These overwintering fires come as crews are also responding to a number of other fires in the northern half of the province.

The City of Fort St. John, B.C., says people evacuated due to a wildfire on the outskirts of the community have been allowed to return home. An update posted to the city’s Facebook page at 8:45 a.m. says the fire in the Fish Creek Community Forest was moving northeast, away from the city. The fire discovered Thursday had prompted evacuations, but the city has since said the fire was not actively threatening any structures. The BC Wildfire Service website lists the fire as burning out of control and spanning 56 hectares as of 1:39 p.m. The service says it has two helicopters and 12 firefighters responding to the blaze alongside others from the local fire department. … The suspected cause of the fire is human activity.

MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY, Alberta – Provincial officials elevated the wildfire danger rating to extreme across the Rocky Mountain House Forest Area Saturday after five new wildfires ignited in the area in recent days. Parts of Mountain View County are included in the forest area, namely west of Sundre and Bergen, covering Coal Camp and Bearberry west of Range Road 60 from Township Road 312 to the north boundary of the county. “The wildfire danger is now extreme in the Rocky Mountain House Forest Area,” the province said in its May 3 update for the forest protection area. “Dead and dry vegetation continues to be a major concern, as it is highly flammable and provides an easily available fuel source for wildfires.” …On Thursday, two wildfires were discovered in the Rocky Mountain House Forest Area while three more were discovered on Friday.

It might only be May 1, but wildfires are already causing problems in northeastern B.C. In one case, a cluster of fires about 30 km southwest of Dawson Creek has destroyed fibre optic cable, severing cellphone, radio and internet connections to the community of Tumbler Ridge — knocking out communications to the RCMP detachment. “Anyone in the area, or travelling through, will need to physically attend the RCMP detachment to report any issues. It is not known when the repairs will be made,” RCMP said. The fire was first discovered on Wednesday and has grown to 35 hectares in size, and is believed to have been human-caused, according to the BC Wildfire Service. It is also affecting Highway 52N, which has been reduced to single-lane alternating traffic. The BC Wildfire Service and municipal fire crews have also been deployed to deal with a new fire just outside Fort St. John.

Firefighters from Fort St. John and the B.C. Wildfire Service were battling a blaze that prompted evacuations late Thursday, the city said. The fire is in the Fish Creek Community Forest on the northern outskirts of the city. …The wildfire service website indicates the out-of-control blaze was discovered Thursday and spanned an estimated 0.56 square kilometres — about four times the size of Granville Island in Vancouver — as of 7:32 p.m. The suspected cause of the fire is human activity. The fire is one of nearly two dozen active across BC on Thursday, as the provincial government warned that a combination of warm, dry conditions and strong winds would raise the fire risk in southern parts of B.C. It’s one of two blazes classified as burning out of control, the other being a 1.85-square-kilometre blaze that began as two separate fires about 30 kilometres southwest of Dawson Creek, which is south of Fort St. John.

• Energetic City, by Franki Berry: Airspace closure at Fort St. John airport lifted as firefighters continue to tackle Fish Creek blaze