Evacuation alert issued as wildfire threatens community in northern Alberta

CBC News

· Posted: May 26, 2025 9:19 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Residents of a assemblage successful bluish Alberta person been told to hole for a imaginable evacuation owed to a adjacent raging wildfire.

The municipality of Swan Hills, astir 220 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, was issued an evacuation alert conscionable aft 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

According to exigency officials, a wildfire is burning astir 8 kilometres northbound of the municipality of astir 1,300 residents.

With winds apt to displacement aboriginal Monday, officials accidental the occurrence could unit an evacuation of Swan Hills and homes surrounding the community. 

The fire, estimated astatine astir 1,600 hectares successful size, continues to pain retired of power with precocious temperatures and beardown westbound winds successful the forecast for Monday. 

According to the an Alberta Emergency Alert, everyone successful the country should hole to permission their homes. They should stitchery pets, important documents and person capable food, water, substance and supplies to past astatine slightest 3 days. 

Officials with Alberta Wildfire said the occurrence threatening the municipality was archetypal detected Sunday day westbound of Highway 33, the main way starring northbound retired of town.

Helicopters and dense instrumentality are moving to suppress the wildfire on the confederate side. Helicopters equipped with nighttime imaginativeness were moving to incorporate the occurrence overnight.

Smoke was disposable passim the municipality arsenic the occurrence grew rapidly, expanding from 65 hectares to 1,600 hectares by Sunday night. 

The wildfire information successful the Slave Lake Forest Area is considered utmost owed to hot, adust and windy conditions. 

The blaze is 1 of six out-of-control wildfires listed successful Alberta arsenic of Monday morning. The wildfire information forecast is listed as extreme for overmuch of the remainder of the week crossed larges swaths of the Alberta and Saskatchewan.  

Yellowhead County fire 

An evacuation alert has besides been issued successful Yellowhead County, wherever a wildfire is burning retired of power six kilometres west of Mercoal and 16 kilometres southwest of Robb.

As of Sunday evening, according to region officials, the occurrence had grown from 70 hectares to nearly 400 hectares successful size, astir 250 kilometres westbound of Edmonton.

Firefighters, airtankers, helicopters and dense instrumentality operators are responding. Two nighttime vision-equipped helicopters were expected to drop water connected the occurrence overnight, focusing connected containing the eastbound broadside of the perimeter, which is the closest to the assemblage of Mercoal.