(Photo supplied: A crew battling wildfires pauses for a picture on May 26th 2015. Robyn Haugen)
Wildfire crews are dealing with four wildfires in the region today.
Two of them are being held.
The other two are considered under control, the first is a 26 hectare fire on the northwest corner of Birch Mountain Provincial Park, the other is a 37.2 hectare blaze about 60 kilometers west of Fort McMurray that blaze was reportedly over 400 hectares yesterday but once smoke cleared crews found it to be much smaller in size.
“Our firefighters made great progress fighting the wildfires yesterday. Changing a wildfire’s status to being held and under-control is an accomplishment that shouldn’t go unrecognized, and our firefighters are back out there today working hard,” said Robyn Haugen, Wildfire Information Officer.
Meanwhile the Pony Creek Fire, the one that forced the evacuation of oilsands sites near Conklin has slowed but is still considered out of control.
The 1,400 hectare blaze is burning west of Chard.
“That fire hasn’t grown significantly today, we’ve been a little bit lucky with the weather conditions,” said Leslie Lozinski a Fire Information Officer, Lac La Biche Management Area. “We’re expecting a cold front to pass over that area in maybe the next hour to two hours [4-5 p.m.] that should bring some cooler temperatures, potentially some rain.”
Lozinski adds that crews were a little late getting tankers in the air this morning thanks to heavy smoke in the region.
The fire is burning in a southwest direction but Lozinski expects it to turn straight south once the cold front moves in.
Sixty-three fires are burning throughout the province as of noon, more than half are under-control.
