Northern Alberta community begins welcoming wildfire evacuees

CBC News

· Posted: May 27, 2025 10:17 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Fire crews are facing a challenging time arsenic a wildfire encroaches connected the municipality of Swan Hills successful bluish Alberta. 

An evacuation order was issued soon aft 6 p.m. Monday arsenic the flames of the Edith Lake wildfire drew person to the municipality of more than 1,300 people.

A wildfire detected Sunday is present burning retired of power 7 kilometres from the borderline of town, which is nestled successful the boreal wood astir 220 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

The blaze, fanned by almighty and unpredictable winds, has burned adjacent to 2,300 hectares since it was archetypal spotted.

A provincial occurrence upwind forecast is predicting gusty and shifting winds and rising temperatures connected Tuesday and the nationalist occurrence information is listed arsenic utmost crossed overmuch of the province.

As of noon Tuesday, there were seven out-of-control wildfires successful Alberta.

WATCH | Swan Hills residents evacuate to Whitecourt:

In an interrogation Tuesday, Whitecourt Mayor Tom Pickard said 705 evacuees person registered astatine the reception centre astatine Allan & Jean Millar Centre. 

Some radical are staying successful municipality astatine section hotels and galore are headed to campgrounds successful the area, helium said.

He said municipality unit worked intimately with exigency officials done the night. 

"The convoy and evacuation was precise orderly," helium said.

Whitecourt hosted wildfire evacuees successful 2023 when their bluish neighbours, including residents of Swan Hills, were ordered out.

He said Whitecourt residents person again stepped up providing nutrient and structure to those successful need.

Inside the Allan & Jean Millar Centre Tuesday morning, a enactment of astir 50 evacuees snaked done the hallway starring to a rink turned reception centre, waiting to registry and get their regular repast vouchers. 

Hemmed by hanging hockey nets, municipality unit greeted evacuees astatine agelong lines of achromatic tables. 

A tiny achromatic canine scurried betwixt boots and sneakers. 

A antheral and pistillate shared a hug earlier walking backmost extracurricular to a parking batch engaged with trucks and RVs crammed with boxes and bags and tiny sleeping passengers. 

Cynthia Moore, her hubby Micheal and 3 generations of their household were among the evacuees astatine the centre connected Tuesday.

She said that compared to 2023, this evacuation was much organized, but it is ever pugnacious leaving your location successful an emergency.

"It's hard, you think, 'OK, I've worked each my beingness to get this' and conscionable praying and hoping that the bully Lord is going to marque definite that our location is safe, our assemblage is harmless and everybody is out," she said.

"That's each you deliberation about."

Michael Moore urged his neighbours to travel the proposal of exigency officials and abide by the evacuation orders. 

He thanked firefighters and commended exigency crews for helping everyone evacuate safely. 

He said evacuations are not called lightly. 

"Things tin beryllium replaced," helium said. "The things radical are disquieted astir close now, they tin beryllium replaced." 

He said they are exhausted aft a agelong nighttime connected the roadworthy and hoping to get immoderate remainder astatine their hotel.

Another evacuee, Kathy Lawrence, has lived successful Swan Hills for astir 2 years. 

She said arsenic soon arsenic she saw the evacuation alert connected TV, she packed her suitcase and was acceptable erstwhile the evacuation bid was issued. 

She said that successful summation to the essentials she mightiness need, she made definite to bring things that were irreplaceable.

"I didn't privation to suffer pictures of my kid due to the fact that she's passed, right? So, I needed to bring her with maine and I brought her babe broad that I've been sleeping with since she died," Lawrence said. 

"Those were the important things and the remainder is conscionable worldly things and we could regenerate them. As agelong arsenic we person each different and our fewer pictures, I'm fine."

She said the evacuation process was "as creaseless arsenic butter."

"The evacuation, I thought, would beryllium much panicked, but it wasn't."

Town residents had been placed nether a one-hour evacuation announcement earlier Monday and were warned that changing winds could unit them to flee.

As the occurrence grew successful the afternoon, heavy fume from the adjacent flames forced the closure of Highway 33 to the north.

Oil-and-gas shaper Aspenleaf Energy, which has wells successful the area, evacuated its section tract unit and temporarily halted operations, shutting successful astir 4,000 barrels-of-oil-equivalent per time of production.

CEO Bryan Gould said successful an interrogation the occurrence was astir 10 kilometres from Aspenleaf's facilities Monday evening, adding the company's determination to unopen successful accumulation was made retired of an abundance of caution.

Canadian Natural Resources, Canada's largest oil-and-gas producer, besides has operations successful the Swan Hills area. The institution has not responded to a petition for comment.

Night vision-equipped helicopters, firefighters and dense instrumentality worked done the night.

A high-volume h2o transportation strategy of sprinklers and hoses is being deployed to assistance douse properties astatine hazard should the occurrence gully closer. An incidental bid squad and further occurrence crews are expected to get Tuesday. 

Elsewhere successful Alberta, radical surviving southeast of Hinton person been told to hole for a imaginable evacuation due to the fact that of a wildfire burning westbound of the erstwhile ember mining municipality of Mercoal.

While the occurrence was initially believed to beryllium astir 400 hectares successful size, it was remapped astatine astir 290 hectares arsenic of Tuesday afternoon. It remains classified arsenic retired of control.