Wildfire east of Slave Lake listed as ‘being held’, evacuation order lifted

On Tuesday, May 26, ESRD officials said a wildfire burning on kilometre 27 of Old Smith Highway in northern Alberta was about 139 hectares in size. Supplied.

Hours after officials with the provincial government said crews were on site dealing with a serious wildfire in northern Alberta, officials said it wasn’t expected to grow.

The province said earlier in the day the wildfire was burning out of control at kilometre 27 on the Old Smith Highway – about 25 kilometres east of the Town of Slave Lake.

Dozens of firefighters and three helicopters were working to fight the fire Tuesday – air tankers had laid fire retardant lines around the fire’s perimeter and were expected to return Tuesday morning.

On Monday night, officials said the fire was estimated at about 500 hectares – but said Tuesday morning that it had been accurately measured Monday night at 139 hectares.

Late Tuesday evening, officials told CTV News the fire had been listed as ‘being held’.

As a result, officials with the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River said evacuation orders had been lifted for residents – although residents living to the south of the fire were still on a 30 minute evacuation notice.

Crews spent much of Tuesday working to gain the upper hand on the wild fire.

“Crews are on the ground laying hose as well as helicopters bucketing, is really cooling that fire so now what we are seeing today is a lot of little flare ups, a lot of little smoking areas, and as soon as we see those areas the buckets are on them,” Wildfire information officer Leah Lovequist told CTV News.

About 300 people were under Monday’s evacuation order – officials said Tuesday that it was believed a lightning strike started the fire.

With files from Brenna Rose