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The wildfire risk across central and southern parts of the province has begun to escalate as the dry conditions of early spring trigger the season’s first evacuation notices.
The wildfire risk in the southern half of the province, including the Edmonton area, is now rated as being very high to extreme, due to parched conditions and high winds, while northern Alberta remains relatively cool and calm, according to Alberta Wildfire officials.
Some residents of Parkland County, west of Edmonton, remain on evacuation notice due to a wildfire burning nearby.
According to the emergency alert issued Sunday, Range Road 11 to Range Road 281, and from the North Saskatchewan River north to Township Road 505, including Beau Rand Estates, should be prepared to leave their homes.
‘A sad situation’
Meanwhile, in Sandy Beach, a summer village about 65 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, clean-up has begun after a small but powerful fire ran through the community on the weekend, destroying three homes and severely damaging a fourth.
That wildfire is now considered under control and officials have lifted a mandatory evacuation order and state of local emergency.
Mayor David Noyes said he’d met with some of the affected residents Sunday night “and they are devastated.”
“[There was] a lot of history and a lot of family heirlooms in these places and it is a sad situation,” he said in an interview Monday.
As of Sunday evening, a dozer guard, which provides a protective barrier against wildfires by creating a line clear of trees and brush, had been completed. Residents are allowed to return home.
Noyes said the speed and force of the wildfire as it moved on the village was a shock to its roughly 300 full-time residents.
Fire crews from surrounding regions helped over the weekend to minimize the damage and assist in the evacuation when the homes began to burn.
“It was a fairly hectic and interesting weekend behind the scenes,” Noyes said, “but we had some great support.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, he said.
WATCH | Alberta’s spring wildfire season begins with evacuation, damage:
Wildfire season puts parts of Alberta, B.C. on alert
The beginning of wildfire season has put communities in Alberta and B.C. on alert, but officials say it’s still too early to predict how severe this fire season will be.
Noyes said there will be lessons learned from the crisis, including ensuring residents are quickly and efficiently informed when a danger to the community develops.
“Fire is an amazing thing. It engulfed those three houses so quickly.”
‘High intensity fire behaviour’
According to the latest fire weather forecast from provincial wildfire officials, the fire danger in central and southern Alberta is serious. Dry conditions will allow for fast-spreading, high intensity fires that would prove difficult to control.
Particularly vulnerable regions include the Edson Forest Area, which stretches east of Edmonton to the B.C. boundary and includes Grande Cache and Hinton, and the adjacent Rocky Mountain House Forest Area, located southwest of Edmonton and extending to Jasper National Park.
According to the latest bulletins from Alberta Wildfire officials, it’s common to see an increase in wildfires at this time of year. The snow has melted, there is no rain in the forecast and the landscape has yet to begin greening up, it said.
“Dry grass and vegetation will catch very easily and, if windy, could burn quickly with an increased risk of high intensity fire behaviour,” Alberta Wildfire said.
As of Monday morning, 25 wildfires are burning across the province.
Counties and towns around Edmonton have issued fire advisories or fire bans due to increased risk.