Dangerous fire conditions expected as fight to save Swan Hills continues
Mandatory evacuation order in place for Chipewyan Lake
Extreme heat, low humidity, and strong winds are expected to fuel a wildfire that has put a northern Alberta town under threat and forced hundreds of people from their homes.
A red flag watch is in effect for regions across the province, signalling a volatile and potentially dangerous day for crews battling the flames of an out-of-control wildfire burning eight kilometres away from the town of Swan Hills.
Red flag watches are issued by Alberta Wildfire meteorologists when intense and dangerous conditions are expected to develop.
The watches are issued as a warning to fire crews that critical weather conditions are developing, including significant changes in wind speed or direction, that could lead to extreme fire behaviour.
Hot, dry, and unstable weather patterns are expected today leading to strong crossover conditions.
'Not an average summer day'
The Edith Lake wildfire ignited on Sunday and spread rapidly due to unpredictable winds and tinder-dry fuel.
By Monday evening, 1,300 Swan Hills residents were ordered to flee south as flames drew closer.
The flames breached the highway north of the town on Tuesday afternoon.
The fire continues to spread. In an update Wednesday, emergency officials said the fire has now burned 3,629 hectares, up from around 2,300 hectares the day before.
On Wednesday, crews are expected to focus on containing the southeast side of the wildfire in the area where it crossed Highway 33, which remains closed.
The current red flag watch was issued for Wednesday and Thursday's burning periods.
Most of the province remains under an extreme heat warning and temperatures are expected to fuel fire activity around Swan Hills.
Temperatures will be 10 to 15 degrees above seasonal, with highs between 25 C and 32 C in regions across the province.
The forecast also warns of strong south-southeast winds across the province, with gusts up to 45 km/h in the western boreal forest and northern east slopes by Wednesday afternoon.
Red flag conditions are expected to continue Thursday as another cold front moves in from B.C.
Wildfire expert Mike Flannigan said the campaign to contain a fire often hinges on the weather, but more specifically the wind.
Extreme winds blowing across the province this week, triggered by a cold front moving across the west, continues to cause problems for crews on the frontline.
"These extreme events really drive the fire world," said Flannigan, the scientific director of Thompson Rivers University's Institute for Wildfire Science, Adaptation and Resiliency in Kamloops, B.C.
"It's not an average summer day. It's those hot, dry, windy days. And if you have ignition, away we go."
The heat is expected to be unrelenting in the coming days with sweltering afternoon highs that will keep overnight temperatures elevated.
Alysa Pederson, an Environment Canada meteorologist, said the cold front moving in Thursday afternoon will see winds suddenly shift and trigger thunderstorms that will elevate the risk of new fires starting because of lightning strikes.
Wind gusts of up to 70 km/h are expected across much of Alberta Thursday.
"When we start seeing those shifts in the wind pattern with thunderstorm activity, when it's been hot and dry, that's typically when we start to see a concern in the wildfire world."
She said there is little relief in the forecast until the weekend when the heat is expected to subside, as a blanket of rain moves across central parts of the province.
More than 40 fires are burning across Alberta as of Wednesday, including a fire near Chipewyan Lake, a community about 380 kilometres north of Edmonton. That fire has now forced an evacuation order for the community.
It's burning close to the Chip/Alpac road and is currently 2,900 hectares in size.
Westlock County residents should prepare for a possible evacuation, according to an Alberta Emergency Alert. Residents in Peerless Lake have been put on notice to be ready to leave their community within two hours.
Alberta Wildfire has said the blaze near Swan Hills is a priority.
Firefighters, supported by helicopters, air tankers, and heavy equipment, continue to fight the fire.
A provincial incident command team has arrived and will be co-ordinating response efforts.
Jeff Goebel, a councillor for the town of Swan Hills, said local and provincial crews are doing all they can to contain the flames.
Goebel, who has lived in Swan Hills since 1985, said the community is familiar with the threat of fire and faced a previous evacuation in 2023 when residents fled as smoke and ash filled the sky.
This evacuation was calmer and less unsettled, he said. But that familiarity has not brought comfort to displaced residents, he added.
Many are worried about the homes they left behind and can't help but think of other Alberta communities that have been devastated by wildfire in recent years, Goebel said.
"We went through this before," he said.
"But there's always worry.
"You see the news reports from other places and unfortunately, that's fresh in people's minds: Slave Lake, Fort McMurray, Jasper. Those images are imprinted in people's minds."
'Our new reality'
Flannigan is expecting to see more fire on the landscape this summer in Alberta and across the Prairies.
He said the season began with campaigns to contain fires that had sparked the previous year and burned through the winter.
Meteorologists caution that this summer will be warmer and drier than average, bringing drought-like conditions that will escalate the fire risk.
It has already proved a difficult season across the west, particularly along the Ontario-Manitoba boundary, where wildfires have already offered a preview of the risks at play this summer.
Several communities have evacuated in recent days as fast-moving fires tear across the region. In Saskatchewan, at least 4,000 people have evacuated their homes and communities due to aggressive wildfires in the northern reaches of the province.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said people should be prepared to lend a hand to about 17,000 evacuees as wildfires threaten his province, with several communities under evacuation order.
"This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people's living memory," he said during a Wednesday news conference.
Kinew said evacuation orders were issued for the city of Flin Flon, Pimicikamak Cree Nation and the northern community of Cross Lake, along with Pukatawagan — also known as Mathias Colomb First Nation.
Weather Network meteorologist Doug Gillham cautioned that the summer's hot and sunny forecast highlights "that you can get too much of a good thing."
The big picture forecast has some similarities to the summer of 2021, Gillham said.
That year Western Canada saw drought, wildfires, water shortages and a deadly heat wave over British Columbia.
Drought could be a serious concern across the southern part of the Prairies along with warmer-than-normal temperatures for northern parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Gillham said.
Flannigan said challenging days on the fire line are becoming more common as wildfire seasons grow longer, and more extreme.
"This is our new reality. We're going to see more fire and smoke," he said.
"Because of the warmer temperatures, we're seeing drier fuels, so it's easier for fires to start and spread. And more of that fuel is available to burn, which leads to higher-intensity fires, which are difficult to impossible to extinguish."
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With files from Julia Wong and The Canadian Press
