Out-of-control wildfire continues to threaten Fox Creek

An out-of-control wildfire continues to burn dangerously close to the small northwestern Alberta town of Fox Creek this weekend, but crews are managing to keep it at bay.

The wildfire, which is more than 72,000 hectares in size, was within a kilometre of the community as of Saturday.

It is part of a pair of out-of-control blazes near Fox Creek and Little Smoky that have been dubbed “Eagle Complex.” The second blaze, west of the communities, was nearly 54,000 hectares.

“There has been some growth,” aid Alberta Wildfire’s Christie Tucker on Sunday afternoon.

“We do continue to have firefighters, helicopters and heavy equipment all working hard. They are continuing to work on a bulldozer guard, which is the fire guard where they remove fuel, that could help protect communities there. And the dozer guard is almost complete on the northwest perimeter I understand and they are going to be sourcing additional heavy equipment to help out on that.”

The province says containment lines north of Fox Creek are continuing to hold, with crews focused on ensuring the wildfire does not cross the dozer guard in place from Iosegun Lake to Fox Creek.

“To my understanding the fire has not moved to closer to the communities, and we are continuing to work hard to hold it,” said Tucker.

The Alberta Wildfire official said the fire had grown to the east towards Highway 43. Work began Saturday on building a guard around the area where the wildfire crossed Highway 43 north of Fox Creek.

Map of wildfire threatening Fox Creek as of May 21, 2023. (Source: Alberta Wildfire)

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The northbound and southbound lanes on Highway 43, previously closed from Fox Creek to Little Smoky, repoened Sunday afternoon.

The Municipal District of Greenview previously asked drivers not to use Google Maps to find alternate routes around Fox Creek and Little Smoky.

“Google may take you in a dangerous direction!” the municipality wrote in a social media post. “Please use caution while traveling in the area, follow all posted signage, expect delays and use your headlights while in the area.”

Please do not use Google Maps to find alternate routes around Fox Creek, AB and Little Smoky, AB, on Highway 43 due to active wildfires in the area that impact both sides of this corridor. Google may take you in a dangerous direction!
Click to read more: https://t.co/FM4iJrBY6L pic.twitter.com/QVc9OlLyO8

— M.D. of Greenview (@MDofGreenview) May 20, 2023

Residents were told to evacuate Fox Creek May 6 and head to Whitecourt. That evacuation order was expanded Friday.

Alberta wildfire says an incident management team from Ontario is part of the crews batting the Eagle Complex blazes. They are working alongside 40 firefighters from Alberta, 20 U.S.-based firefighters, 19 crew members from New Brunswick and “Helitack” crew members from Oregon.

“Additionally, three structural groups from municipalities in the Alberta Wildland Urban Interface Fire Structure Protection Program have been working together on structural protection for the community,” Alberta Wildfire wrote.

Fox Creek is about 260 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.