Central Alberta wildfire spurs evacuation order for part of County of Barrhead

A wildfire burning in County of Barrhead, northwest of Edmonton, triggered an evacuation order for some parts of the municipality on Thursday afternoon.

Shortly before 5 p.m., an Alberta Emergency Alert said the county had issued a state of local emergency because of the fire.

Initially, an evacuation order was issued for the Summerlea subdivision but about 45 minutes later it was expanded to include the Thunder Lake subdivision.

“There are structural fires in the Thunder Lake subdivision, south of the provincial park boat launch,” county officials said in an updated alert at 5:42 p.m.

Shortly before 7 p.m., county officials said the evacuation order for the Summerlea subdivision had been lifted and that residents of that area could return home. However, they said the evacuation order for the Thunder Lake subdivision remained in effect.

Bayley Timm told CBC News she was in the area on Thursday to help fix up someone’s cottage on the west side of Thunder Lake when she heard a neighbour scream “fire!”

“I look and there’s black smoke, and I kind of panicked,” she said, before quickly realizing the smoke was coming from the east side of the lake.

The county said the fire had been contained as of Thursday evening.

In an update posted online shortly after 9:30 p.m., the county said wildfire evacuees from the Thunder Lake subdivision would not be allowed to return home on Thursday night.

“Fire response is still controlling hot spots and assessing impact to utilities,” the county said, adding officials expected to provide their next update on the situation Friday morning.

Adam Vanderwekken, a spokesperson for County of Barrhead, said the chief of the Barrhead Regional Fire Services told him the fire had “affected” eight cabins and about 30 outbuildings, but he did not elaborate on how what kind of damage they may have sustained.

Erik Munck, the reeve of County of Barrhead, said late Thursday night that the blaze, which he described as a grass fire, “destroyed some structures” and damaged others.

“There were no injuries — we were fortunate in that regard,” he said. “Our thoughts are with the people who suffered a loss.

“These aren’t just buildings, they’re homes. They’re people’s lives, memories.”

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Those forced to flee their homes were being asked to take Highway 18 and head to the county’s office in the town of Barrhead at 5306 49th St.

Wildfire evacuees were asked to register once they arrive.

“All residents should avoid travelling near this area,” county officials said.

Munck said he was grateful that people in the affected communities co-operated with the evacuation order. That paved the way for emergency responders to be able to rapidly get to work on trying to contain the fire.

“Today our emergency services weren’t improvising. We had a plan,” he said. “We had trained personnel. We had partnership agreements with neighbouring communities, the provincial government.

“We protected lives and contained the fire very quickly.”

Munck said he understands the cause of the fire has yet to be determined. He said county officials would assess the damage on Friday and focus on helping residents recover and return to their homes.

Thunder Lake is located about 150 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.