Updated: Growing Clearwater County wildfire causes evacuations

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“The area continues to experience significant winds, which are increasing wildfire activity and creating challenges for containment efforts. Firefighters continue to be supported by airtankers, helicopters and heavy equipment,” a media release states.

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“Heavy equipment will continue working overnight with support from night vision-equipped helicopters. Smoke from this wildfire is visible from nearby communities; however, there is currently no risk to nearby communities.

That being said, Clearwater County has issued an evacuation alert for an area surrounding the fire.

Action to take:

• All campers, traffic and anyone in the backcountry that is within 10 km of highway 734, near the highway 584 junction should leave the area immediately
• Residents in the area must prepare for a possible evacuation
• There is no mandatory evacuation for residents at this time
• Everyone must avoid the area so wildfire crews can action this fire
• This alert will be updated if an evacuation of residents in the area is required

Due to the proximity of this wildfire to Highway 40 (Forestry Trunk Road), portions of the highway are now closed. Visit 511Alberta for current road closure information and updates.

Image of smoke from Innisfail area, which may be of fire RWF036. (Image Credit: Patrick Teskey)

Strong winds on Thursday didn’t help matters, the wildfire service has noted.

Meanwhile, Sundre RCMP had this to say Thursday night:

“Sundre RCMP would like to advise the public that a 10 km radius of Crown Land, starting at the intersection of Highways 734 and 584, has been evacuated due to a rapidly spreading, out-of-control wildfire. Blockades have been set up at the corner of Highways 734 and 591, the corner of Coal Camp Road and Highway 734, as well as on Highway 584 East of Highway 734. No one is to enter the area by any means while emergency crews respond. The public is asked to avoid the area and revise any travel plans to the area over the long weekend.”

For up-to-date information on wildfire locations, status, size and statistics, visit the Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard. By adjusting settings and layers on this site, you can also view Forest Area boundaries, active fire advisories, restrictions and bans, wildfire danger ratings and much more.

With this news, the wildfire danger for the region is once again listed as ‘High.’ It had been downgraded to ‘Low’ for the Rocky Mountain House Forest Area earlier this week.

An additional message from the Ministry of Forest and Parks:

May long weekend

The Rocky Mountain House Forest Area encourages everyone spending time in the west country this long weekend to enjoy the outdoors responsibly. Wildfire prevention is a shared responsibility. 

If you are having a campfire, ensure it is fully extinguished before leaving your site. Annually,  abandoned campfires account for a large portion of the human-caused wildfires in Alberta. These fires are preventable. Be sure to properly extinguish your campfire by soaking the area, stirring the ashes and soaking it again until it is cool to the touch.

When using off-highway vehicles, take care to avoid dry vegetation, as hot equipment can start a wildfire. Stop regularly to check for debris buildup.

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Forest area updates, like this one, help keep Albertans informed about wildfire conditions. Your feedback is important. It helps improve these updates and ensure they meet public needs. Please take a few minutes to complete a short survey and share your input.