Officials managing wildfire near Waterton Lakes

WATCH ABOVE: Things are looking much better south of Calgary at Waterton Lakes National Park Sunday. Carolyn Kury de Castillo has the latest on the wildfire situation.

WATERTON LAKES – Residents and campers in Waterton Lakes National Park were told late last Friday night to be ready to flee on a moment’s notice.

The one hour evacuation alert was in place between midnight and 10:00 a.m. after a fire was spotted on the south side of Upper Waterton Lake Friday afternoon.

Sunday, Parks Canada said the fire was approximately 10 ha in size and five crews crews and three helicopters were working on the fire throughout the day.

The weather forecast continues to call for cooler temperatures, some precipitation and lighter winds.

The fire ban that was posted on Thursday has been lifted.

The village and townsite campground are located on the north side of the lake.

The fire is still relatively small but high winds continue to fan the flames.

Doreen McGillis with Waterton Lakes Field Unit says they should have the fire extinguished in three to five days.

“The only effect that it has on visitors is that there are some trail closures that are associated with the fire,” McGillis said. “They are working on containing the perimeter of the fire with fire hose and pumps and we have one helicopter bucketing the fire.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The only effect that it has on visitors is that there are some trail closures that are associated with the fire," McGillis said. "They are working on containing the perimeter of the fire with fire hose and pumps and we have one helicopter bucketing the fire."

Within the boundaries of Waterton Lakes National Park there are no fires, however Parks Canada is working with the US national Park service to manage a fire in Glacier National Park.

“Parks Canada and the US national Park service have a mutual aid agreement where we help each other with incidents like search and rescue and fire management. The only people that were evacuated Friday night was a nine person trail crew from glacier national Park who were brushing the US Canada international boundary,” McGillis said.

Pat Friesen was hiking in the Waterton, Goat Haunt area and saw the fire flare up around 4:30 p.m. immediately following a lightening strike in the same area.

“We stopped to take a couple of pictures of the lake when the lightening strike came down.  Within seconds a fire had started and the smoke was above the tree line,” says Friesen.

“Staff that work at that end of the lake had also seen it and we’re very quick to respond. A helicopter was in dropping water on the fire within about half an hour.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Staff that work at that end of the lake had also seen it and we're very quick to respond. A helicopter was in dropping water on the fire within about half an hour."

No word yet on what caused the fire. It is currently on the U.S. side of the border.

Officials with Parks Canada and Glacier National Park are continuing to monitor the fire’s movement.

WATCH: Fires continue to destroy property in British Columbia

As for restrictions and closures, a new area closure has been added:
•       Pass Creek Day Use Area, for fire management purposes

The area closure issued Friday remains in effect until further notice:
·    Lakeshore trail from the townsite to Boundary Bay, Bertha Lake trail,
Alderson Lake trail (from the townsite trailhead), Carthew-Alderson
trail (from Summit Lake via Carthew Lakes to Alderson Lake), Boundary
Creek trail, and Summit Lake trail.

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