Hours after officials with the provincial government said crews were on site dealing with a serious wildfire in northern Alberta, officials said it wasn’t expected to grow.
The province said earlier in the day the wildfire was burning out of control at kilometre 27 on the Old Smith Highway – about 25 kilometres east of the Town of Slave Lake.
Dozens of firefighters and three helicopters were working to fight the fire Tuesday – air tankers had laid fire retardant lines around the fire’s perimeter and were expected to return Tuesday morning.
On Monday night, officials said the fire was estimated at about 500 hectares – but said Tuesday morning that it had been accurately measured Monday night at 139 hectares.
Late Tuesday evening, officials told CTV News the fire had been listed as ‘being held’.
As a result, officials with the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River said evacuation orders had been lifted for residents – although residents living to the south of the fire were still on a 30 minute evacuation notice.
UPDATE AT 5:41 PM: THE EVACUATION ORDER HAS BEEN LIFTED FOR THE AREA OF THE OLD SMITH HIGHWAY. RESIDENTS ARE NOW ALLOWED BACK INTO THE AREA.
— MD 124 (@RUGGEDandREAL) May 26, 2015
UPDATE AT 5:43 PM. Residents due south of the fire in the area of the Old Smith Hwy remain on a 30-min evacuation notice.
— MD 124 (@RUGGEDandREAL) May 26, 2015
Crews spent much of Tuesday working to gain the upper hand on the wild fire.
“Crews are on the ground laying hose as well as helicopters bucketing, is really cooling that fire so now what we are seeing today is a lot of little flare ups, a lot of little smoking areas, and as soon as we see those areas the buckets are on them,” Wildfire information officer Leah Lovequist told CTV News.
About 300 people were under Monday’s evacuation order – officials said Tuesday that it was believed a lightning strike started the fire.
With files from Brenna Rose
