(Photo Supplied: A wildfire burns near Gregoire south of Fort McMurray on May.1, 2016. Alberta Wildfire. TWITTER)
There’s a little bit of good news for Fort McMurray very early Monday morning as Regional Fire Chief Darby Allen updated MyMcMurray on the status of the wildfire burning south of town around 1:40 a.m., and is about 900 hectares in size.
The 900 hectare fire is located 1.2 kilometres west of Highway 63 and Airport Rd., it has not crossed the Hangingstone River.
“The fire is a lot thinner at the front end than we thought it was, they’re typically in a long cigar shape so this is wide at the back and pointy at the front,” said Allen by phone. “It’s not really moving at all right now, it’s mainly low level, it’s not crowning, there’s very little wind. There’s airflow up high but there’s very little wind, so that’s good news.”
Evacuation order turns MacIsland into shelter
The fire forced the evacuation of Prairie Creek and the Centennial Trailer Park as people flocked to a reception centre set up at MacDonald Island Park which was quickly turned around from the tradeshow that ended at about 5 p.m. Sunday.
“Frankly I’ve been calling it Fort McMurray’s biggest sleep over and meeting a lot of families and folks who have come in and registered here,” said Mayor Melissa Blake by phone from the MacIsland parking lot. “Cots are set-up, people are able to get some light snacks when they’re in there, there’s coffee for those that probably aren’t going to sleep tonight.”
Pets are being accepted at MacDonald Island Park.
There are three pickup locations for evacuees who are unable to get to MacDonald Island Park on their own they are:
- The Shell station at Highway 63 entrance to Centennial Trailer Park
- Greely Road School front entrance
- Intersection of Airport Road and Arabian Drive
Pets are being accepted on the shuttles, people in Gregoire with respiratory and mobility issues along with the elderly are being asked to head to MacDonald Island Park for their safety.
Parts of Gregoire under “Shelter in Place” notice
The RMWB has initiated a “Shelter In Place” notice for the residential area located east of Gregoire Drive / Mackenzie Boulevard and north of Mackay Crescent and Maclean Road. You’re asked to turn off all outside sources of air and stay in your home, details on how to properly shelter in place can be found online.
“Due to changing fire conditions, the mandatory evacuation notice for Gregoire is reduced to a voluntary shelter in place notice,” wrote the RMWB in a press release sent at 3:19 a.m.
Attack plans for Monday
Firefighters plan on sending the rotary aircraft back into the sky at 7 a.m., which will be followed by the water bombers just two hours later.
“Forestry is going to try and get access on the Enbridge pipeline at either end depending on which way the wind is going because we want to get the dozers down there and see if they can do some work on that area,” said Allen.
Lynn Daina, Area Information Coordinator with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry says that help is on the way from across the province. Daina notes that one unit crew coming in from Edson, two eight-man tactical squads are coming one from Slave Lake the other from Rocky Mountain House. A pair of bulldozer groups and a bulldozer boss are coming in on standby while an Incident Command Team is also on its way.
When can you return home?
Those displaced by the fire will need to wait until morning to get any updates as to whether or not they can return home. Allen said there’s still many questions regarding the direction the fire will take during the day Monday.
“I think if the wind direction is still coming towards town it [the fire] will hit, it’s just a matter of when,” said Allen. “So that’s why we’ve left those couple of strips of mandatory evacuation in place but as far as a timeline no one would be able to give you that unfortunately.”
Three wildfires burn in one day
It wasn’t an easy day for local fire crews as three wildfires were burning in the Fort McMurray area including the one near Gregoire. Earlier Sunday the Fort McMurray Fire Department managed to wrestle control over a blaze near Taiga Nova, that fire started flaring up again overnight, while a third blaze was located about 85 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
“We’ve got great resources certainly in our Fort McMurray Fire Department, we’ve got mutual agreements if it comes to needing some specialized services with our industrial partners I know that they would come if it was necessary,” said Blake. “The guys that are taking the lead on this one are from Alberta [Agriculture and Forestry] and they’ve got incredible expertise that they have access too.”
The extras
Blake declared a State of Local Emergency localized to Gregoire at 9:57 p.m.
Expect delays if using the public transit service on Monday, May. 2.
The Fort McMurray Public School District has closed both Greely Road School and the Fort McMurray Islamic School Monday.
Keyano College is shifting classes scheduled to take place in Gregoire to its downtown campus.
Details on the evacuation order can be found by calling the Pulse line at (780) 743-7000.
People who are willing to volunteer are asked to call (780) 762-3664.
Due to the nearby fire the dump is closed.
To check you flight status click here.
You can listen to our full interview with Regional Fire Chief Darby Allen here:
You can listen to our full interview with Mayor Melissa Blake here:
