Edson, a town of about 8,000 people, remained under an evacuation order due to Alberta wildfires Wednesday.
Edson chief administrative officer Christine Beveridge said Wednesday that cooler temperatures have helped firefighting efforts but crews have not been able to push the fire back from the south edge of Edson. The fire is still just 1.5 kilometres from the town.
“We are not ready to have our residents come back to our community,” she said. “We are working diligently on a re-entry plan for you.
“We want to make sure this is easy,” Beveridge added. “Your safety is our number one priority.”
“If somebody suffers some medical issues and calls 911, that’s going to take away from fire rescue, which is one of the reasons why it’s important to not be in the community right now, because that help is not available,” said Edson Mayor Kevin Zahara. “We have no hospital, no doctors.”
However, as of 6 p.m., the evacuation order for some parts of Yellowhead County will lift.
The partial re-entry is for the area west of Highway 751 along north of Highway 16 (excluding the Town of Edson) until Range Road 183, north to Township Road 540 to Range Road 190 to Township Road 550 and everywhere north of this area.
Highway 16 between Edson and Hinton is open for thru traffic only.
Returning residents are being told to stagger their re-entry and that Edson will not have any services, including EMS.
However, Yellowhead county officials are working with grocery stores to restore services in the region. Sobeys, Walmart and Independent Grocers will be in the region restocking perishable and other items.
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Some pharmacies and gas stations are also trying to reopen in the region, officials said in an update on 8 p.m. Wednesday. ATCO gas is also working to restore services to prepare for residents to come back.
“It’s important to understand the perplexity of reinstating services to a municipality of our size,” Beveridge said.
“We cannot guarantee services … That is something that you will need to be aware of if you do decide to come back,” said Zahara.
He told anyone who has concerns about medical support or who has health issues to postpone returning home until services are restored.
Williams said he’s happy the rain has helped calm things down slightly for a few days but admits the county has seen this before.
He expects more flareups as the weather dries and heats up.
Anyone returning should be ready to leave again on four hours’ notice, he stressed.
“I wouldn’t unpack quite yet,” Williams said. “We just don’t know. We’re not out of the woods yet.”
A state of local emergency is still in place for Yellowhead County as active wildfires are still a concern across the county.
Mercier said the fires had been taken down a little bit because of the weather shift and rain.
“These rains are having a very minimal impact on the fire and that’s a concern.”
He said officials expect conditions to worsen again when the temperatures rise and the moisture dries out.
“This is something we’re going to have to work with for the remainder of summer… probably until snowfall, to be honest.”
The north area in Yellowhead County that is being re-opened at 6 p.m. will be under an evacuation alert, and residents will need to be prepared to leave with four hours’ notice.
The remaining parts of Yellowhead County remain under an evacuation order. This includes the area west of Range Road 114, south of Highway 16 (including the Town of Edson) to Range Road 183, north to Township Road 540 to Range Road 190 to Township Road 550, south to Highway 16, including the Hamlet of Marlboro and Millers Lake, continuing west along Highway 16 to Range Road 213 south to Township 520 and east back to Range Road 114.
Travis Fairweather, a wildfire information officer with the province, said most of central Alberta is seeing some rain, including the Edson area.
“Ultimately rain is good. Whenever we can get rain on a wildfire, that’s going to help reduce that fire’s activity as well as support firefighters on the ground.”
Still, he said the current situation just requires a lot of firefighters — wildfires are covering so much land.
“It takes so many firefighters to get out there, walk every inch of that fire, make sure there’s no hot spots,” Fairweather said. “And when those hot areas burn deep into the ground, it can be metres into the ground, so they’re out there, doing that hard work, digging up with shovels, making sure those hot spots are completely extinguished and that’s grueling labour.”
The Town of Edson remains under an Evacuation Order.
Edson and Yellowhead County residents were forced out by wildfire again last Friday.
This is the second time Manpreet Kaur had to leave her home in Edson.
“It’s really hard because we are evacuated and we don’t have any job… financial support and things like that.”
She’s been staying at a hotel for the last four days.
“At one time, you’re frustrated, another time, you’re stressed. How can you manage all the things? If you’re going to go back home? It’s all messed up,” she said.
Peter and Bethany Vanderworth had to leave Edson with their three cats and dog on Friday.
“It sucks,” Peter said Wednesday, with a bit of a laugh.
They’re staying with family in Spruce Grove.
“I just want to go home,” Bethany said, adding she realizes it’s a big ask.
“We’re going to need six days of straight rain.”
–with files from Paula Tran, Global News.
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