Fear and apprehension grips northern Alberta residents as Wildfires grow

They have about 230 homes on the settlement.

“The north homes are all along Highway 35, probably about eight houses and then we have three houses on the Tompkins Road which is where the fire went as well and jumped the river.”

Wanuch says they evacuated to Grande Prairie about one week ago for what was a smoke advisory at the time. The fire then was 21 kilometres away and she says she never expected things to get this bad.

“People left their pets. People left their pictures. People left their documents. People left every single thing because we were not under a threat for fire, it was just the smoke.”

She says they were told many times the fire was 21 kilometres away and they didn’t have to worry.

She said they had to constantly push the High Level fire department for information.

“Next thing you know it’s two kilometres away from our settlement,” she said.

“Our members were saying ‘it’s closer to the settlement than you think it is, they’re not telling you the truth.’”

She says there are about 40 dogs still there that are being fed by volunteers and firefighters and gates had to be opened for horses to run away.

“The fire is all around us. We still don’t know how far the fire went into parts of the settlement, because we hold like 28 townships and we have homes all over our settlement, and there is a lot of bush, so it is a very, very scary situation.”

Meantime, The Town of Slave Lake, which is hosting many of the 5000 evacuees from High Level, is now under an 8-hour Evacuation Alert.

The announcement came this morning, stating that due to the extremely dry conditions and unstable fire activity across the region, residents should be prepared to leave on short notice.

They say residents should have all medications and prescriptions in order, a supply of drinking water and food, as well as keeping your gas tank full. You should also have any important documents like birth certificates and passports ready to go.

The town is no stranger to wildfire danger. It faced a wildfire in 2011 that burned approximately one-third of the town.

Also, residents Chipewyan Lake Village, about 450 kilometres north of Edmonton, have been ordered out.

Near High Level, the Chuckegg Creek fire grew from 1500 square kilometres on Wednesday to 23000 square kilometres as of Thursday morning.

Just a west of Slave Lake, the Grande Prairie Reception Centre (GPREP) for wildfire evacuees has hit capacity, and they are no longer able to accommodate anymore people.

No new evacuees will be accepted but there is still space for those who have already been directed to report to the Grande Prairie Reception Centre in their evacuation order.

The GPREP is asking evacuees to stay in the community they are registered in and only go to the community that is indicated on their evacuation order. They also ask evacuees to avoid moving to a different community, further adding that once an evacuee has been assigned a place to stay, they cannot change their hotel or hotel room.

792 people have been registered with GPREP to date and are residing in hotels in the area.

by Sheena Roszell and Shaun Penner

Fear and apprehension grips northern Alberta residents as Wildfires grow

What's Happening