Wildfire north of Edmonton caused by ATV that caught fire

A wildfire that has been burning since Saturday in Sturgeon County has been confirmed to have been man-made.

Officials confirmed Monday that the cause of the fire was due to an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) catching fire in a remote part of the Redwater Provincial Recreation Area.

At this time, it is believed to have been due to an electrical or mechanical failure.

The wildfire has been estimated to be around 400 hectares, which is a slight increase over the last 24 hours, however, it is 70 per cent contained.

Fire crews are working in the air and on the ground to try and contain the fire, while planning for a predicted shift in the direction of the wind.

“We have the right resources and tools on site to get the job done, and so it’s a matter of it’s a large area that we have to cover, so we’re going to continue to work on it,” said Chad Moore, the fire chief for Sturgeon County.

The fire has affected areas from Range Road 205 to Victoria Trail; Township Road 574 to Range Road 205; and Township Road 574 to Range Road 203.

Additionally, an evacuation alert has been put in place and is still in effect for areas south of Township Road 580 to the North Saskatchewan River and east of Range Road 212 to the North Saskatchewan River.

“It’s hard to see it all go up in flames,” said Cole Williams, who lost his family farm in the fire.

Williams says that his family noticed the blaze when they saw a cloud of smoke Saturday evening. Worried for the safety of others, they headed toward the plumes, discovering it was their farm that was on fire.

They only had a few minutes to save their livestock and make sure everyone was safe.

“Friends, family, neighbours, strangers, I mean, everybody just came together, and it was a group effort, and if we didn’t have people’s help, this could’ve went bad. Really bad,” Williams explained.

“We’re going to see what insurance does. I got my cows to the feed lot and we’re just going to, hopefully, rebuild. That’s all you can do.”

Alberta wildfire says hot, dry, and windy conditions are an issue across the province. The forestry minister says for now, fire bans are up to individual communities, and it’s not time for a province-wide ban.

“We look across the province regularly at what we are going to put for advisories, restrictions and for bans and OHV bans. We look at them all together, and it depends on conditions at any given time across the province,” said Todd Loewen, Alberta Forestry and Parks Minister.

-With files from Elliott Knopp