One day after an approaching wildfire prompted a mandatory evacuation order to be issued for people in Waterton Lakes National Park and the Waterton townsite, officials said on Saturday that crews were focusing their attention on preventing the fire from spreading into the park through the Akamina Pass, near the park's western edge.

“The forest conditions out there are extremely dry at this point; they really can’t get much drier."

The Alberta government issued an emergency alert calling for a "voluntary evacuation" of Waterton Lakes National Park in the southwest part of the province on Tuesday night because of a "serious wildfire" that threatened to affect the resort community.