Residents urged to stay away or stay ready as wildfire burns out of control in Grande Prairie county

An out-of-control wildfire can be seen near the Hamlet of Teepee Creek in the County of Grande Prairie on May 11, 2024. (Photo: Josh Bourget)

Fire officials reported Sunday that good progress was being made on the Teepee Creek fire, which prompted two evacuation orders over the weekend.

• Complete coverage of the 2024 Alberta wildfire season

"That fire is pretty close to containment," said Melissa Story from Alberta Wildfire. "We are expecting to see some more showers and subdued conditions over the next couple of days, so hopefully we can make some good progress on it in the coming days."

Local fire crews and Alberta Wildfire fighters were working on the fire, which was burning out of control over 1,382 hectares as of 7:30 p.m.

The response included 20 pieces of heavy equipment, four helicopters, eight fire engines, two structural protection units and approximately 80 firefighters.

Despite the fire jumping the Smoky River Saturday, officials 80 per cent of the fireguard around the perimeter was complete.

An evacuation order remained in effect for Kleskun Creek North to Township Road 742, as well as the Riverstone Golf Course.

Another evacuation order for the Municipal District of Greenview also remained in place for residents in the North Goodwin area west of Range Road 21 between Township Road 734 and Township Road 741.

• Grande Prairie County No. 1 under state of emergency, evacuation orders due to wildfire

The county said those evacuation orders were being actively enforced.

"Re-entering the evacuation zone compromises the integrity of our volunteer search and rescue teams and emergency response personnel operations," the county said in a release Sunday. "If this persists, emergency response teams will be forced to pull back operations."

Evacuation alerts remained in place for Township Road 744 to 750 and Range Road 32, as well as Township Road 744 to 730 and Range Road 32.

The County of Grande Prairie remained in a local state of emergency.

 For more information, follow the Municipal District of Greenview here.

The county is also helping Alberta Wildfire with a wildfire 13 kilometres northwest of the hamlet of Valhalla. That fire was being held at 100 hectares.