Dozens forced from northern Alberta community after fire threatens key road

Dozens of residents of a northern Alberta hamlet are out of their homes as a wildfire threatens their community.

Local officials say 89 residents of Chipewyan Lake have registered at an evacuation centre.

Meanwhile, as the heat warning continues, Edmontonians have now also woken up to hazy skies hanging above the city, as wildfire smoke moves in.

Some of the wildfire smoke, blowing towards Edmonton, but Environment Canada expects the smoke to remain high in the sky, not anticipating major air quality impacts.

Wildfires are continuing to ramp up as the hot weather continues, so far this year, Alberta has recorded more wildfires than last year’s total, however, the total amount of land burned remains less than a third of 2023’s record-setting season.

“We are expecting these conditions to continue throughout the weekend, and firefighters are anticipating some challenges today,” said Christie Tucker, information unit manager with Alberta Wildfire.

As of Friday afternoon, nearly 150 wildfires are burning in the province. About one-third of which are out of control, forcing the evacuation of more than 1,000 residents in Alberta.

Residents at Chipewyan Lake were evacuated Thursday night as an out-of-control blaze burned towards the community.

“Currently, there’s no intimate threat to the community, but the wildfire is threatening the only exit route out of the community,” said Stephen Lacroix, senior assistant deputy minister and managing director with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.

Residents have been moved to hotels in Slave Lake and Wabasca as well as that town’s sports centre. 

Terah Yellowknee of the Municipal District of Opportunity says the fire remains out of control and is burning towards the community.

On Wednesday, residents in the hamlet of Janvier — south of Fort McMurray — were issued an evacuation alert, being asked to be prepared to leave on short notice.

Garden River residents — east of High Level — have now been evacuated for more than one week from another out-of-control blaze.

“It has grown quite a bit due to the hot weather conditions we’ve been having these last couple days, and this heat doesn’t help,” said Chief Conroy Sewepagaham, Little Red River Cree Nation.

Alberta Wildfire is anticipating challenging wildfire conditions over the weekend, and have more than 240 firefighters and support staff from other jurisdictions to support wildfire response.

“The heatwave, overnight lightning and a shift in wind direction could lead to more wildfire starts, extreme wildfire behaviour or changes in existing wildfire already burning on the landscape,” said Tucker.

A fire ban in Alberta’s entire forest protection area remains in place.

-With files from the Canadian Press