A wildfire burns north of Renee Jackson’s home near Lobstick, Alta. where people had to evacuate this weekend because of the fire.Handout
Renee Jackson spent overnight Saturday watching bright yellow flames and dark orange clouds fill the sky behind her home.
“What you could see from the sky, it didn’t look like anything would survive it,” Ms. Jackson said.
The fire was burning near Lobstick Resort, a rural community west of Edmonton, and just north of Ms. Jackson’s home on Range Road 85, between the Alberta hamlets of Wildwood and Evansburg.
Residents of Lobstick Resort had to evacuate their homes over the weekend. That included Ms. Jackson’s parents and a woman who had just moved to the community – all of whom are taking refuge in Ms. Jackson’s house.
“It was really scary to know that there were homes in Lobstick that were potentially going to be all gone,” Ms. Jackson said. “The first night was really, really bad, very uneasy for everybody that was here.”
Ms. Jackson said no homes in the community ended up burning down, but there’s still a lot of smoke in the air. “We’re all just kind of hunkered down and sitting because the highway is closed, so we don’t really go anywhere.”
Spring wildfires have already produced evacuation alerts and orders in several communities in Alberta and British Columbia. Dry conditions last fall and warming temperatures, especially in Alberta, have launched an early fire season in both provinces.
Two major Alberta wildfires – one 330 hectares in size outside Entwistle and the other 3,000 hectares in size outside of Evansburg – have been burning since Saturday.
Albertans living in a rural area southeast of Barrhead were told to evacuate Sunday afternoon, while others living about three kilometres north were asked to be ready to leave.
Later, several other mandatory evacuation orders remained for areas about 90 kilometres to the southwest, and the hamlets of Entwistle, Evansburg and Lobstick Resort remained evacuated.
Brian Cornforth, fire chief for Parkland County, which includes the Entwistle community, said about 500 people from Entwistle and 800 from Evansburg were placed under mandatory evacuation.
So far, only one home and several agricultural outbuildings have been lost, he said.
It’s an early time of year for fires of this size to be burning, Chief Cornforth said. “These 27- and predicted 30-degree temperatures are really unusual for me,” he said. “It’s very dry.”
Temperatures are about 10 to 15 degrees above seasonal norms, according to Derrick Forsythe, wildfire information officer at Alberta Wildfire. The warmth, coupled with strong winds, makes for unpredictable fires, he said.
“In that time period between when the snow leaves us, and we hit what we call ‘green up’ where the grass recovers … [that] can be a really active time for wildfire in the province,” Mr. Forsythe added.
While no evacuation orders have been announced further west in British Columbia, two wildfires in its Interior have led to three evacuation alerts.
Erika Berg, provincial wildfire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, said the wildfires in the province are typical spring fires.
“I wouldn’t say it comes as a surprise for us. It has been a dry fall, which has bled into the spring here,” Ms. Berg said.
As of Monday morning, she said the two wildfires that caused the evacuation alerts – Lost Valley Road and Dripping Water – are 113 and 200 hectares in size, respectively. Although residents should be on high alert, they are asked not to evacuate until an order is given. If one is issued, they should prepare to evacuate with little to no notice.
The wildfires affect parts of Bonaparte Plateau, the entirety of Tl’entinqox IR #1, and the Dripping Water area.
Air tankers and helicopters are responding to the blaze, the service said.
Ms. Berg added that the wildfire response needs have been fulfilled by the current staff capacity.
“Though we are not at it quite yet, we’re looking at full capacity by mid-May. We’ve had significant new recruits, so lots of new folks that are getting trained to be ready for the season.”
Ms. Berg added that the majority of the B.C. fires the service has responded to have been caused by humans.
“We want to remind folks that if they’re conducting open burning, which is a great fuel management tool, to make sure they’re doing it safely, responsibly.”
With a report The Canadian Press