Wildfire evacuation orders to lift Tuesday in Yellowhead County

Albertans forced out of Yellowhead County due to fast-moving wildfires will soon be allowed to return home.

Two fires have put three communities in the county under threat, triggering a string of evacuation orders and displacing around 500 people. 

Yellowhead County Mayor Wade Williams said all evacuation orders in effect in the region will lift at noon Tuesday.

Residents are advised to be cautious when returning home as crews will continue to work in the area. The highway has since re-opened but conditions may remain smoky. County officials say they have received reports of fire equipment being stolen. They're urging returning residents to report any suspicious activity within the community as services are re-established. 

Shortly before 8:30 p.m. MT Friday, the county told people living in the communities of Mercoal and Robb, each roughly 280 kilometres west of Edmonton, that they had to flee.

The fire, now six kilometres west of Mercoal and 16 kilometres southwest of Robb, remains classified as out of control and has spread across 320 hectares.

Evacuation orders were issued for Peers last Thursday, a hamlet about 180 kilometres west of Edmonton. 

On Friday evening, the county expanded the evacuation zone as the fire, driven by powerful winds, multiplied in size and moved dangerously close to the remote hamlet. 

The fire burning to the south of Peers, which now straddles Highway 32, continues to burn out of control and has consumed around 730 hectares.

During an interview Monday, Williams detailed the battle to save the remote communities.

Williams said Peers, which sits just north of a CN rail track, was "very much under threat" on Friday as winds pushed flames north.

He said crews were able to hold the line with help from helicopters, CN Rail's Neptune firefighting train, and a series of sprinkler systems that had been set up in advance to dampen the fire's approach. 

"That fire took a run at Peers late Friday evening," he said. "Had all that equipment not been set up and in place, it would have been devastating for that community.

"Crews were able to stop that fire right at the tracks, right on the very southern border of the community." 

He said the fire near Mercoal was also considered an imminent threat due to high winds and dry conditions. A swath of the nearby forest had been killed off by mountain pine beetle infestations, leaving it tinder dry, he said.

"Fire can travel extremely quickly," he said. "For the safety of residents, we had to evacuate." 

After hot, dry weather last week fanned the flames of fires burning across the province, cooler temperatures and rain over the weekend helped dampen the wildfire risk.

Williams said he is grateful to firefighters and thankful that residents will soon be allowed back home. 

He said the community is familiar with the danger of fire on the landscape after a string of fires ignited across the county in 2023, closing highways, triggering a wave of evacuations and burning dozens of homes to the ground. 

He said the devastation seen that summer has helped the county better prepare for the worst.

"This time around, we've got two fires burning in the county. Last time we had 13. It was two totally different stories, but we learned an awful lot from 2023. Things went much, much smoother this time." 

The fires in Yellowhead County are among more than 50 burning across the province Monday, more than half of which remain out of control.

A dozen communities remain under evacuation orders. As of Monday, an estimated 4,600 Albertans have been forced from their homes.  

Other communities are under evacuation alert.

In northwest Alberta, the County of Northern Lights told some residents Monday afternoon to be ready to leave on short notice. The alert says an active wildfire is in the area and all residents of Hawk Hills are advised to be prepared to evacuate.

The alert noted the RCMP had closed Highway 35 north from Highway 692 to Highway 695, but it has since reopened. 

Alberta crews called back home

Communities across western Canada have been hard hit by wildfires in recent weeks with thousands displaced in Manitoba and Saskatchewan as conditions grew increasingly explosive during record-breaking temperatures and severe winds last week. 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her province is experiencing shifting wind conditions and that some Alberta fire crews sent to other provinces have been called back home.

"We are about to restart our emergency management committee of cabinet, because this is an indicator with so many communities facing evacuation that we've got to be able to respond in a way that is going to be rapid," she said.

Losses in Chipewyan Lake

While communities in Yellowhead County have been spared, other evacuees are beginning to learn about the damage caused by last week's volatile conditions. 

Officials in Chipewyan Lake announced over the weekend that an estimated 27 structures in the remote northern Alberta community have been destroyed.

A fire moved in late last week, damaging firefighting equipment and temporarily trapping a crew overnight, as the flames flared and burned trees fell like matchsticks, blocking the only road out. 

Some of the community's most critical infrastructure, including the water treatment plant, health centre, school and church, were lost to the flames, officials said. 

The fire continues to burn out of control at 132,167 hectares.

Recent rains allowed a provincial forestry crew to complete a fly over of the community Sunday. Municipal officials are expected to release more details on the damage later Monday.

So far, more than 480,000 hectares have burned in Alberta.