Alberta woman hopes to reunite with family soon after mandatory wildfire evacuation

A group of 16 firefighters had to be rescued in Alberta near the Red Earth Creek wildfire after losing radio contact. Kathy Le has more.

Tumultuous weather in parts of Alberta over the last 24 hours sparked new wildfires and fanned existing ones already out of control, prompting more mandatory evacuations.

The Hubert Lake wildfire forced hundreds of residents in Westlock County, located in central Alberta, from their homes Thursday evening. Residents fled to Westlock, where they could find shelter in several hotels.

At the Westlock Inn, Sherry Walker had already taken up residence since Wednesday, when her community of Red Earth Creek was evacuated.

“Well, it was kind of a hectic night,” said Walker.

Walker was already in Westlock for an appointment prior to the evacuations. While she stayed put, she anxiously waited for updates from her family at home as her husband and grandchildren made their way out of the community.

“Trying to get them all out from being here, you know, saying, ‘what should we pack? What should we do?’”

As Walker kept in constant contact with her loved ones, who ended up going to Peace River, she watched as new evacuees arrived from Westlock county.

Only a handful of people registered at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre on Thursday evening. Geraldine Hensch and her family were among those looking for a place to stay.

Hensch says her son is a firefighter in their community. He told them in advance to be prepared to leave.

“We kind of knew to get ready ahead of time,” said Hensch. “We had to move our cattle, move all of our equipment and everything, try to find some open spaces and stuff like that.”

Their home is surrounded by the boreal forest, but she’s hopeful the flames won’t get too close.

“But living where we live, you kind of know it’s a risk,” she said. “And then like once they hit once, sometimes it seems like now you’re worried about getting hit again.”

Mandatory evacuations were also issued for people in the community of Chateh and Yellowhead County Thursday evening.

Wade Williams, mayor of Yellowhead county, says the wildfire was one kilometre from the Hamlet of Peers.

“We do the best we can to get in on these as quick as we can and to get them under control,” said Williams. “Mother Nature sometimes has different ideas.”

The hot temperatures followed by a thunderstorm that brought wind gusts up to 100 km/h Thursday night sparked new wildfires and fanned others.

As of Friday afternoon, there were 55 wildfires burning in Alberta and more than half are out of control.

The Edith Lake wildfire that forced the evacuation of the town of Swan Hills on Monday night has more than doubled its size in the last 24 hours.

Derrick Forsythe, an information officer with Alberta Wildfire, says Friday temperatures were cooler, but conditions were still not ideal.

“The winds are going to be gusting along the Saskatchewan border up to 60 km/h, and there could be gusts of up to 50 (km/h) throughout the rest of the western boreal,” said Forsythe.

“So, I mean, there’s still going to be challenging conditions in some places as the day goes on.”

Alberta Wildfire says out of province resources have been called to help because of the rising number of wildfires.

In Chipewyan Lake, another northern Alberta community that was evacuated on Wednesday due to the threatening Red Earth East Wildfire complex, a group of firefighters found themselves in an even more challenging situation.

James Gault, president of the northeast region of AUPE, confirms 16 of them temporarily lost radio contact Thursday night.

“The helicopters that were supposed to go in to get them were unable to land due to smoke, which is a common occurrence when the smoke is too heavy,” said Gault.

However, the road was accessible, and crews were able to drive in to rescue them.

In a social media post, emergency management for the area said that preliminary reports indicate there is structure loss in the community of Lake Chipewyan. Adding that “an assessment of the community will be conducted once clearance of safety is received.”

As the Red Earth East wildfire complex rages on, and mandatory evacuations remain in place, Walker waits to hear word about when it will be safe to return to her community.

“I checked with my daughter. She’s a firefighter up there, and I asked her, ‘(is there) any sign of going back?’ And she said, ‘no, not yet.’ And the power’s out there now.”

Walker’s plan now is to leave Westlock and risk to drive to Peace River where her family is.