Province-wide fire ban announced as wildfires continue to spread near Fort McMurray

Wildfires rage on in Fort McMurray Alesia Fieldberg with the latest on firefighting effort in northern Alberta as a province-wide fire ban has been issued

An evacuation order around Fort McMurray has been expanded and officials announced a province-wide fire ban on Thursday afternoon.

So far, the wildfire has destroyed over 1,600 buildings and more than 80,000 people have been forced from their homes.

The evacuation zone was expanded to include Anzac, Gregoire Lake Estates, Fort McMurray First Nation and MacKenzie County, near High Level, and residents should not try to return home at this time.

Evacuees from those communities are taking shelter in Lac La Biche and camps at several oilsands operations and facilities around the province.

The province provided an update on the situation on Thursday and says that the fire conditions are still extreme in Wood Buffalo.

“As of 8:30 a.m. this morning there were 49 wildfires burning in Alberta, seven out of control, 12 being held, 23 under control and seven that have been turned over to local responders,” said Premier Rachel Notley. “It’s not just Fort McMurray, although without question, this is by far the largest and most severely affected community.”

The changing weather conditions are fueling the fire and it is expected it will continue to burn through the weekend.

“The fire has grown to roughly 85,000 hectares in size so it’s large,” said Notley. “The key issue is that we protect infrastructure and the community and that is the work that is going on with the firefighters right now.”

“Late yesterday the wildfire grew rapidly due to the increase of winds, we had winds recorded on site of up to 70 kilometres an hour and those winds came from the northwest. The fire blew out to the southeast corner late last night and now, as the premier said, the fire is estimated to be 85,000 hectares,” said Chad Morrison, Sr. Manager with Wildfire. “Today, we’re expecting the fire to continue to challenge firefighters, even though the temperature is going to be lower, around 16 degrees, we’re still going to have very low humidities and the conditions are still tinder dry.”

Chris Thompson and Joanne Holland had just minutes to spare to get their ponies loaded and get out of Anzac and say their home was destroyed by fire as they escaped.

They told CTV News that they’re shocked by how quickly things changed.

“We lost everything. All we have is what’s in the truck and the car,” Thompson said. “But all our animals are safe, my wife and daughter safe, so, I’m happy for that but I’m sad for everybody else that lost a lot of animals.”

“We have two dogs with us that we don’t even own,” Holland said. “They got separated from their owner so we will get them back together in Edmonton. So everybody’s helping everybody. To see everybody helping, it’s good.”

The situation is causing periodic closures on Highway 63 and Highway 881 and traffic controls are in place to direct residents.

More than 1,110 firefighters, 145 helicopters, 138 pieces of heavy equipment and 22 air tankers are fighting the fires.

Emergency fueling stations have been set up along Highway 63 to provide evacuees with gas or diesel at the following locations:

Displaced residents are reminded to keep a record of all receipts for food, accommodations and other expenses for their insurer for possible reimbursement.

“These are huge numbers to be dealing with and it’s a challenge to get an exact tally of how many people have been evacuated and where they have gone,” said the premier. “We do ask everyone who has been displaced to register with the Red Cross. It’s very important that we know where people are and that everyone is accounted for.”

Crews and equipment continue to pour in from other provinces to help battle the fires.

“Quebec is sending four air tankers that should arrive sometime today, another 100 firefighters are coming in from Ontario and as we continue to get more information from our partners we continue to have more firefighters coming in the coming days,” said Morrison.

“Can Task Force 2, which is part of the heavy urban search and rescue organization based out of Calgary, dispatched two incident management teams, they’re the command and control elements that enable the ground forces to do what they need to do, they arrived at one o’clock last night, linked up with the Regional Emergency Operations Centre,” said Scott Long, Executive Director, Alberta Emergency Management Agency. “This morning 77 more structural community firefighters from communities around the province arrived to augment the firefighters who are currently in place.”

Long says they are working to move about 8000 evacuees from the north to the south by air and that others will be moved to evacuation centres that can offer better support in Calgary and Edmonton once it is safe to do so.

CEMA Chief Tom Sampson and Calgary Fire Chief Steve Dongworth provided an update on Calgary’s support efforts on Thursday afternoon.

“We are prepared to accommodate and provide emergency food and shelter for any of the evacuees that arrive in our city. We’ll provide them Calgary hospitality,” said Sampson. “We know many Calgarians are eager to help and that’s just the Calgary way. “

“Around 11:00 p.m. last night the Calgary Fire Department deployed a contingent of firefighters and support staff along with emergency vehicles to Fort McMurray and this was part of the city’s coordinated response to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo,” said Dongworth. “We’re well over 400 of our staff have stepped forward to make themselves available for any future deployment or any extra deployment to Fort McMurray.”

A province-wide fire ban was also announced and Albertans are being asked to reduce the use of ATVs and off-road vehicles.

“Albertans stand with the people of Fort McMurray who have been evacuated and our first responders as they work to protect Albertans and critical infrastructure. The single best thing we all can do to help protect Alberta from wildfires is to ensure we are not creating additional risk,” said Shannon Phillips, Minister of Environment and Parks.

“Our firefighters are currently focused on fighting wildfires across the province, including the estimated  85,000-hectare fire near Fort McMurray. With extreme fire hazard conditions persisting, it is prudent that we take these steps to help reduce the risk of additional fires,” said Oneil Carlier, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.

Officials say all fire permits have been suspended and that all open fires are prohibited including campfires and charcoal briquettes.

Alberta Health Services has issued a boil water advisory for those areas that pull water from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Water Treatment Plant, including work camps, Anzac, Conklin, Gregoire Lake Provincial Park and Janvier.

AHS has also issued an Air Quality advisory for the Fort McMurray area and residents are advised to take precautions.

A reception centre has been set up for evacuees at SAIT in Calgary, click HERE for details.

Reception centres operating within the province:

The Red Cross has set up a call line for the public, for inquiries and to register call 1-888-350-6070.

To make a donation, call 1-800-418-1111 or visit the website HERE.

Click HERE for up-to-the-minute emergency information & contact numbers.

Mental health support is also available by calling Alberta’s 24-hour Mental Health Help Line at 1-877-303-2642.

(With files from CTVNews.ca)