Alberta requests military assistance to battle against raging wildfires
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- Premier to deliver update on wildfire situation at 3 p.m. Watch it live here
CBC News · Posted: May 08, 2023 11:31 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago
Alberta wildfire update, May 8, 2023
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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis, and wildfire officials will provide an update on the Alberta wildfire situation.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has requested military support and other federal government assistance as the province battles widespread wildfires, a spokesperson for the premier said Monday.
"Prime Minister [Justin] Trudeau assured the premier that Canada would be there to support Alberta in any way possible," Colin Aitchison told CBC News in an emailed statement.
Alberta has sent a letter outlining its request to Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, according to a post from Smith on Twitter.
The federal government has already reached out to the Red Cross to set up a matching fund to assist those in Alberta impacted by wildfires, Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.
He noted that he and Smith discussed different options on how the federal government can help but did not divulge specifics on the support it would offer.
"Canadians stand with the people of Alberta as they deal with these terrible, terrible wildfires," he said. "All weekend we were watching images from the community affected by these wildfires and I assured Danielle that we will be there to help."
Smith is expected to provide more details during a 3 p.m. news conference to update the wildfire situation. You can watch the news conference live here.
About 30,000 Albertans have been displaced from their homes. As of Monday morning, the situation across the province remains volatile with 100 active wildfires, including 27 that continue to burn out of control.
Some Albertans forced to flee their homes will be allowed to return Monday.
"Everybody's anxious and if you could walk a mile in another man's shoes you'd feel the uncertainty and the pain that everybody's having," said Brazeau County Reeve Bart Guyon.
County residents, including those living in the town of Drayton Valley, were ordered to evacuate on Thursday, some with less than an hour's notice, he said.
"People want to get back home. They want to know what's going on," he told CBC News.
Edson, Big Lakes County residents can return
Residents forced to evacuate from the west-central town of Edson, along with evacuees of Big Lakes County in northern Alberta, are being allowed to return home, under caution that conditions across the province remain volatile.
Evacuation orders for Edson, population 8,000, have been lifted as of 8 a.m. MT Monday, Yellowhead County said on social media.
Residents are only being allowed to return to some areas of the county as conditions remain tinder-dry and classified as extreme.
The county said services such as gas stations and pharmacies should reopen soon, but residents should be prepared for a reduction in services. A water ban remains in place in Edson.
See some of the damage done by Alberta's wildfires
5 hours ago
Duration 0:28
People around the small community of Shining Bank, Alta., are facing major losses on Monday as the province battles more than 100 active wildfires.
In Big Lakes County, east of High Prairie, a mandatory evacuation order issued last week was downgraded on Sunday to an evacuation alert. Residents can return home but should be prepared to leave within an hour.
Returning residents are being cautioned about the ongoing dangers as the risk of wildfire remains high due to isolated ground fires, which threaten to flare with changing winds.
Highway 749 remains closed due to downed power lines. Many properties in the county have no electrical power or natural gas services.
Alberta is under a provincial state of emergency as the province seeks more funding and manpower to manage what Smith has described as an unprecedented crisis.
The province has welcomed additional firefighters from across the country, including crews from Ontario and Quebec.
On Monday, Smith has a scheduled call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at 12:30 p.m. MT.
Smith and Mike Ellis, Alberta's minister of public safety and emergency services, are expected to provide an update later this afternoon on the provincial emergency response.
The news conference is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. MT. Watch it live here.
'Everybody's anxious,' says reeve of Alberta community dealing with wildfires
2 hours ago
Duration 3:07
Bart Guyon, reeve of Brazeau County, says crews are trying to build up fire breaks wherever they can, but he said worry is running high in his community as people wait for word on when they might be able to return home.
With so many communities facing the threat of encroaching flames, the damage has been difficult to quantity but some properties have been lost.
In Fox Lake, about 550 kilometres north of Edmonton, the province said a 4,400-hectare wildfire destroyed 20 homes, an RCMP detachment, a store and the community's water treatment plant.
Fox Lake is one of the three Woodland Cree communities that make up the Little Red River Cree Nation. Its leader, Chief Conroy Sewepagaham, has spoken with Federal Indigenous Minister Patty Hajdu.
"Some of the biggest fires [are] impacting [Sewepagaham's] communities," Hajdu said Monday in Ottawa.
"It's been a very difficult time, as you can well imagine, for everyone. Infrastructure is being lost.
"There are active efforts underway to try to protect what infrastructure is remaining, but it's very, very difficult and, I would say, quite a treacherous situation."
Hajdu said First Nations in 15 Alberta and Saskatchewan communities are affected by wildfires and receiving assistance from Indigenous Services Canada.
According to the Alberta government's
wildfire website, 405 wildfires have burned more than 391,000 hectares across the province so far this year.
Alberta wildfires force thousands from their homes
16 hours ago
Duration 2:45
Alberta is under a state of emergency as over 100 wildfires burn across the province, forcing more than 30,000 people from their homes.
With files from Wallis Snowdon