One week after being forced from their homes by a raging wildfire, more than 3,000 Fox Lake residents still have no idea when they will be allowed to return and what they will be going back to.
The community, which is located on the Little Red River Cree Nation, is 130 kilometres east of High Level in northern Alberta and more than 900 km north of Edmonton.
The Paskwa wildfire, that spread into the area on May 3, remains out of control and its last estimated size is 21,297 hectares. It was first detected on May 2.
Darryel Sowan, the communications lead for the emergency management team for Little Red River Cree Nation, confirmed May 10 that more than 85 structures have been lost, including the RCMP detachment, general store and homes.
He said he expects that number to climb. The nation believes it will have more solid numbers by the end of the day Wednesday.
“We’ll get an update from them (Alberta Wildfire) later today to see where it is but I’m pretty sure that number is going to increase. We just haven’t been told yet,” Sowan told Global News.
“The fire has been ongoing and now, as of the update last night, it was past the community and going near one of our close original settlements Mikkwa Sipi, Little Red.”
The Alberta Wildfire update explained the blaze was 2.9 km away from the cultural heritage site and remained on the south side the Peace River, as of Tuesday evening.
There are firefighters and aircraft putting out hotspots within the community to reduce fire spread to homes and critical infrastructure, the government agency said.
However, the forecast anticipates the return of hot and windy conditions.
While the order to evacuate was issued May 3, many residents didn’t get out until May 4.
Sowan said the evacuation was difficult for a number of reasons. The community, although quite large in size, is somewhat cut off from the rest of the world. Residents have to cross Peace River to get in or out.
“Some of them had never left the community,” Sowan pointed out. “You can imagine it’s very significant.
“It’s a bit of a culture shock for all of those people who have left the community and especially it being an isolated community.”
Alberta Wildfire has mobilized an incident management team in the area and continues to fight the fire on the ground and in the air. There are 70 firefighters, 11 helicopters and heavy equipment working on the effort, air tankers as needed and additional firefighters requested.
On May 9, the east side of fire was very active, Alberta Wildfire said. On the southwest side, fire crews and heavy equipment have created control lines along the perimeter.
Sowan is hopeful they will be able to get the fire under control soon but for the time being, has this message for residents:
“We love you all and we’re doing the best we can and we’re going to try and get you home as soon as we can.”