A grass fire that began burning east of Calgary on Monday evening is no longer considered a threat.
The fire was burning about 120 kilometres south of Oyen near the Saskatchewan border, in the area east of Range Road 2–3 south of Highway 555. The fire was on the north bank of the South Saskatchewan River.
In a Tuesday news release, the Special Areas Board said the grass fire sparked north of CFB Suffield, near Remount Community Pasture. They said the fire quickly grew beyond the capability of local emergency services.
Witnesses tell Global News they believe the fire was started on CFB Suffield land. Nobody from National Defence has returned Global News’ calls to confirm or deny that claim. We did, however, reach area administrators who confirmed the fire didn’t start in their region.
A state of local emergency was then declared at 11:48 p.m. and a mandatory evacuation order was issued.
About 40 people who live in the area were evacuated and asked to go the Bindloss School.
On Tuesday morning, Alberta Emergency Alert said the situation was “stabilizing” and an emergency alert issued for the area had been cancelled.
No injuries have been reported as a result of the fire.
The town of Oyen is located about 280 kilometres east of Calgary.
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