More than 13,000 people who live in the Canadian province of Alberta have been evacuated as wildfires rage across the region.
As of 11 p.m. Friday, there were 92 active wildfires in Alberta, 31 of which are classified as out of control. Of the remaining fires, 17 are being held and 44 are under control, Stephen Lacroix, the region’s emergency management agency director, told reporters during a Friday news conference.
Some residents in the community of Fox Lake, where the fires are severe, had to be evacuated by helicopters, according to Christie Tucker, Alberta Wildfire’s information unit manager. On Friday morning, dozens of firefighters in Fox Lake were battling the blazes, which burned nearly 11,000 acres, officials said.
In Drayton Valley, firefighters, helicopters, and air tankers battled an out-of-control fire that torched over 3,700 acres, according to Tucker.
Mandatory evacuation orders
Mandatory evacuation orders are also in effect for:
- The County of Grande Prairie from Township Road 710 to the Wapiti River and Highway 40 to Range Road 72.
- Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation
- Fourth Creek area of Saddle Hills County
- Lac Ste Anne County west of Highway 43, and Range Road 60 west to Highway 757 from Brock Lake in the south to Township Road 564 in the north.
- Athabasca County on Range Road 214 and 215, north of Township Road 674 to the Athabasca River,
- Yellowhead County from Elk River Road in the north, the Brazeau Reservoir in the east, just past Brazeau River in the south, and Range Road 145 in the west.
- Leduc County and the Hamlet of Entwistle, west of Range Road 65.
- The entire community of Fox Lake (Little Red River Cree Nation).
“Temperatures have been 10 to 15 degrees above normal for a little while now,” Tucker said. “We still don’t have green grass and leaves all over the province, which means that the ground is very dry.”
There have been 348 wildfires in Alberta since January, burning more than 61,776 acres, Tucker said. “That’s significantly more wildfire activity this time of year than we’ve certainly seen any time in the recent past.”
