UPDATE: An emergency alert for the Municipal District of Peace No. 135 was cancelled late Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, the wildfire is burning southeast of Township Road 830, about 1 km north of the Peace River, and remains active.
Alberta AEMA said an update would be issued late Wednesday evening which would include re-entry plans for those who were evacuated.
Shortly after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the Municipal District of Peace 135 shared on social media that the fire was being held.
“Should this trend continue, the evacuation order and alert could be lifted later this evening or tomorrow morning,” the post read.
The MD said it was working with ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric on “re-entry planning.”
The MD also revealed one home was seriously damaged and several outbuildings and vehicles were lost.
Officials said the Emergency Reception Centre at the Grimshaw Legion would remain open until 9 p.m. Wednesday.
The MD said it would share another update will be at 10 p.m. on Wednesday with re-entry information to also be shared via social media and the MD website.
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Some residents of an area in northwestern Alberta were issued an evacuation order on Tuesday because of the threat posed by a wildfire burning in the region.
At a news conference held in Edmonton on Wednesday to provide an update on the provincial wildfire situation, Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen spoke about that particular fire and said it grew “substantially” since Tuesday night.
“That is definitely a fire of concern right now and it’s one that is getting the attention it needs.”
Timeline of evacuation alerts and orders
Shortly after 3:30 p.m., the Alberta Emergency Management Agency issued an evacuation alert, warning some residents of Municipal District of Peace No. 135 and Birch Hills County — anyone within a five-kilometre radius surrounding Township 830 and Range Road 231 — to be prepared to leave their homes within 30 minutes.
“The situation is changing rapidly,” the AEMA said.
At 5:27 p.m., the agency issued an evacuation order for the area.
“Gather pets, important documents and medication for at least three days,” the AEMA said.
Evacuees were told to head to Grimshaw and register at a reception centre located at 5011 49 Ave.
At 6:42 p.m., the AEMA said in an update that the evacuation order had broadened to include everyone in the area of Township Road 580, south to the Peace River, and from Highway 684, east to the Peace River, in the Municipal District of Peace No. 135.
Those evacuees were also told to head to Grimshaw.
On Tuesday evening, the AEMA said the fire posing a threat was burning southeast of Township Road 580, about one kilometre north of the river, and that it was “burning northwest.”
“Everyone else in the MD must prepare for a possible evacuation on short notice, especially those near this fire,” the agency said.
Shortly after 7 p.m., the AEMA said in another update that the fire was burning southeast of Township Road 830, about one kilometre north of the river, and that it was “burning northwest.”
The AEMA said the evacuation order now included “everyone in the area of Township Road 830, south to the Peace River, and from Highway 684, east to the Peace River.”
Those evacuees were also told to head to Grimshaw.
On Wednesday, Peace Regional RCMP said officers helped with evacuation efforts by “attending all homes most directly affected.”
In a news release, RCMP also said they helped with the evacuation of inmates from the Peace Regional Correctional Centre as flames crept closer.
RCMP said buses were organized for the transport of inmates through the Peace River School Division, with 174 inmates being transported to safety initially.
Police said the inmates were taken to regional RCMP detachments “such as Peace Regional, Valleyview, High Prairie, Slave Lake, Lakeshore, Spirit River, where inmates were temporarily held until transfer could be made to other remand centres around the province. RCMP have also assisted with providing members to maintain guarding of these prisoners where correctional officers were unable to remain.”
On Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Government of Alberta said 215 inmates had been transferred from the jail.
Peace Regional RCMP said it requested the assistance of the Rural Alberta Provincial Integrated Defence Response (RAPID) program, which allowed Alberta Sheriffs, Fish and Wildlife to assist. Police said Alberta Forestry, Correctional Officers, Peace River Fire Department, St. Isador Fire Department, Grimshaw Fire Department, Fairview Fire Department, water bombers and helicopters also helped with evacuation efforts and containment of the fire.
‘Today’s going to be another long day’
Bob Willing, the reeve for the M.D. of Peace No. 135, spoke to 630 CHED early Wednesday afternoon and said that while the fire’s “intensity has dropped,” it still remains out of control and he believes “today’s going to be another long day.”
Willing said he spoke to provincial officials and that they are confident they will “get a handle” on the fire soon but the area burning is full of “scattered trees with open areas with lots of grass.”
“The grass tends to burn very quickly,” he said. “The one unknown is the winds this afternoon. It’s supposed to get a little windy with gusts up to 40 km/h, so that could change the landscape dramatically.”
Willing said a fire investigator is on scene and early indications show the fire was human-caused and began near the subdivision that was evacuated, although an exact cause has yet to be determined. He said at least one homeowner lost out-buildings on their property.
Stephen Lacroix, managing director of the AEMA, also spoke at Wednesday morning’s news conference and said the fire near the Peace River has seen 12 homes evacuated so far.
Willing said on Wednesday morning he was told about 40 people have registered at the reception centre set up for evacuees in Grimshaw.
In an update posted to the M.D. of Peace No. 135 Facebook page at 10:50 p.m. on Tuesday, officials said “the fire along Shaftesbury Trail has grown to approximately 4.5 square miles and remains out of control.”
At about 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Alberta Wildfire posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the fire, called “Wildfire PMD003,” remained out of control and had grown to about 1,500 hectares in size.
In another update posted to social media at 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday, officials with the M.D. said no homes had been lost but several “outbuildings” have been destroyed by the blaze.
“Our thoughts go to all our residents who have been impacted,” the post read.
Willing said he drove through an area Wednesday where the fire had burned through a day earlier.
“You could see where the fire had actually burnt right to the doorstep of the houses. But the houses were fine. Kudos to the crews.”
Loewen said the fire near the Peace River is one that the province has “a considerable amount of manpower and equipment working on.”
Alberta Wildfire information officer Josee St. Onge told reporters the province had four crews working on the blaze on Tuesday.
“Some of them worked overnight, so they’ll get a rest today and new crews will come in to relieve them,” she said Wednesday. “We’ve also had heavy equipment operators working out there to strengthen containment lines.
“Helicopters have been deployed — they are bucketing water onto the fire. We have airtankers available as well if needed. We’ll be continuing the nighttime operations as long as it’s required.”
St. Onge told reporters that the 2024 wildfire season has already seen fires burn more than three times the number of hectares of land that would normally be burned by this point in the spring.
