EDMONTON — Residents of Lac Ste. Anne County were told they could return home and that an evacuation order was lifted late Wednesday evening, however classes were cancelled Thursday for students on the Alexis Nakota Sioux First Nation.
A serious wildfire burning on the First Nation was affecting properties in Lac Ste. Anne County and about 300 residents were forced from their homes Wednesday afternoon.
Watch below: About 55 homes were evacuated about an hour northwest of Edmonton on Wednesday because of a wildfire. Julia Wong reports.
All residents north of the Alexis First Nation between the western boundary of Highway 765, east to Range Road 41 and north to Township Toad 560, including all residents in the Hamlet of Glenevis were told to evacuate the area immediately, according to an Alberta Emergency Alert issued shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday. By late Wednesday night, that alert had been lifted.
Troy Dufort, deputy county fire chief for the Lac Ste. Anne Fire Department, said the weather conditions had made firefighting efforts a challenge.
“We had containment earlier in the day. Unfortunately, we had a wind shift and the particular fuel types that were involved did move south on us,” he said.
No structures were lost in the blaze though one house did suffer minor damage.
More than 100 firefighters and 30 apparatus from neighbouring firefighting departments assisted in putting out the blaze.
At one point, the fire was estimated to be between 100 and 130 hectares.
Chief Tony Alexis said the nearby blaze and evacuation alert put many residents on edge.
“People are afraid. They’re being asked to move from their home,” he said.
“There are some children with asthma – we’re making sure they’ve been checked in the clinics and hospitals. There are some elderly who needed some attention but our health staff was quick to participate and to look after them.”
Father Les Kwiatkowski from the Lac Ste. Anne Parish said he went to community centre Wednesday afternoon to check in with residents.
“The school, all the teachers and everybody was there,” he said. “It makes you feel bad for the people because you just know that they might lose everything. And people are walking on the road with bags, whatever they could grab, and were moving to the community hall.”
He then went to the north side where the fire was burning.
“The fire actually was very close to the road, to the highway. So you could see it was grass,” Kwiatkowski said. “It was big. The area that was seen from the road is grassland. It was big, it was high.”
Watch below: Residents in Lac Ste. Anne forced from their homes due to wildfire
Resident Dennis Potts said he saw the fire from his house near Birch Lake.
“It was a lot of flames, big flames. Right then, it looked out of control,” he said.
Potts, his wife and their five children left as soon as they were told to.
Doris Cardinal could see the fire approaching her house. She managed to leave safely.
“We’re leaving now to go to the city. We have relatives in the city.”
Late Wednesday night, Chief Alexis said residents were allowed to return to their houses except for those who had their power and gas cut off during the firefighting efforts.
The Alexis First Nation is located about 90 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
For the latest evacuation information, visit Alberta Emergency Alerts online.
Visit the government of Alberta’s website for the very latest information on the wildfire status across Alberta and the current fire ban situation.
You can also download the Alberta Wildfire app for Android and Apple for real-time updates on the fire conditions across the province.
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