Dozens of people displaced from northern Alberta community after fire threatens major road

EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA — Dozens of residents of a northern Alberta hamlet were outside their homes Friday as a wildfire threatened their community.

The province reported that 89 residents of Chipewyan Lake had checked into an evacuation centre after being ordered to leave a day earlier.

“There is no immediate danger to the community, but the wildfire is threatening the only way out,” Stephen Lacroix of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency told a news conference.

Residents have been transferred to hotels in Slave Lake and Wabasca and to that city’s sports center.

Terah Yellowknee of the Opportunity Municipal District said the fire is still out of control and is moving towards the community.

Chipewyan Lake is located 450 kilometres north of Edmonton.

Lacroix said evacuation warnings remain in effect for the communities of Janvier Hamlet and Janvier 194, south of Fort McMurray.

He said it is important that residents of all communities under a warning are prepared to leave their homes at any time.

Alberta Wildfire spokesperson Christie Tucker said 377 new fires have started this month.

She said crews are concerned more could erupt over the weekend as Alberta’s heat wave hits, with lightning expected in some areas.

The conditions could “lead to extreme fire behavior or changes in existing wildfires already raging in the landscape,” she said.

She said a fire ban remains in place in Alberta’s protected forest area, an area that stretches from the southern Rocky Mountains to the north.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2024.

The Canadian Press