Backcountry, trails evacuated as fire threatens Waterton from U.S.

WATERTON LAKES NATIONAL PARK – The wildfire that prompted an evacuation alert for Waterton Lakes National Park Thursday, Aug. 23 is on the United States side of the border, Parks Canada said Friday.

Dubbed the Boundary Creek fire, it is thought to have started Thursday evening, west of Upper Waterton Lake in Glacier National Park in Montana. The first report of smoke was received by Parks Canada at around 6 p.m. and a helicopter patrol spotted the fire soon after that.

Within one hour, it grew from 20 to 100 ha and to 500 ha in the hour that followed. It was listed at 770 ha Friday morning. It was determined that the fire could not be suppressed from the air, but as of Friday morning, air attack crews from Glacier were over the fire. Parks Canada is coordinating with the U.S. National Parks Service and is providing two helicopters, an initial attack team, and a local incident command team.

Parks Canada is putting structure protection measures in place at Boundary Bay and Bertha Bay backcountry campgrounds and is ready to do the same at the Waterton townsite if needed. Glacier is performing structure protection in the Goat Haunt area.