Evacuation order issued for Little Red River Cree Nation due to encroaching wildfire

A large, growing wildfire in northern Alberta instigated an evacuation order Saturday afternoon for Little Red River Cree Nation.

The Semo Lake Complex wildfire, a series of multiple out-of-control fires, is burning north of the three communities that make up the nation. It grew 30,000 hectares since Friday and now span about 95,000 hectares, said Christie Tucker, Alberta Wildfire information unit manager.

The Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA), which leads and oversees all emergency and disaster responses, issued an evacuation order as one of the fires approaches the communities and Highway 58 — the lone thoroughfare in the area.

"The fire, that took a big run last night, is now right above John D'Or [Prairie]," Little Red River Cree Nation Chief Conroy Sewepagaham said in a video posted to the nation's Facebook page. It posted three videos in which he explained why the evacuation order was issued and how it would proceed.

• Track active fires, wildfire smoke across Canada

"We do have this opportunity to evacuate all of our membership and residents of Fox Lake and also John D'Or — and our Garden River evacuees."

Little Red River Cree Nation, which has about 5,500 members, is made up of three communities: Garden River, Fox Lake and John D'Or Prairie, which are about 560 kilometres north of Edmonton.

An evacuation order was issued for Garden River on July 10. Fox Lake and John D'Or Prairie were placed under an evacuation alert Friday evening, but AEMA escalated that to an evacuation order Saturday, which means everyone must flee.

Tucker, from Alberta Wildfire, said the fire is about eight kilometres from John D'Or Prairie, roughly four kilometres from Fox Lake and 13 kilometres from Garden River. But it is about two kilometres from the highway.

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Little Red River officials were told forecasted winds are expected to push the fire closer to the communities and highway within two days, Sewepagaham said.

"I never thought that we'd be doing this again," he said, noting past fires, including the Fox Lake fire last year. "Now, we have to do a nationwide evacuation."

Temperatures in the region are expected to reach 32 C Saturday, but little to no precipitation is in the forecast until next week, according to an update Alberta Wildfire issued Saturday afternoon.

As of 2:30 p.m. Saturday, 161 total wildfires are burning throughout Alberta, according to the Alberta Wildfire status dashboard. As of Friday afternoon, roughly 1,100 people were forced from their homes.

Smoke blankets parts of northern Alberta, Rockies

Wildfire smoke has left parts of northern Alberta and the Rocky Mountain region shrouded in haze Saturday, increasing the health risk in some areas amid a prolonged heatwave.

Environment and Climate Change Canada's (ECCC) air quality health index, which estimates how safe the air is to breathe, shows conditions are "very high risk" in multiple northern Alberta communities, including the Wood Buffalo and Fort McMurray areas, as well as Edmonton.

Poor air quality is forecasted to last through the weekend in those places, the index suggests.

The City of Edmonton activated an extreme weather response shortly after 11:30 a.m. Saturday due to the smoke. It will last until 9 a.m. Monday, according to a news release issued by the city.

Open city facilities, such as recreation centres and pools, will give out N95 masks and can act as shelter from the poor air quality. The city will distribute masks to agencies serving vulnerable people as needed, and social agency partners will have masks available for those who need them.

ECCC issued air quality advisories for many parts of Alberta on Saturday. Special air quality statements for the Rocky Mountain area were also issued.

Parks Canada fire crews are working to extinguish three fires that ignited in Jasper National Park since Thursday evening, which are each about 50 kilometres from the town of Jasper, according to a Facebook post. As of 1 p.m. Saturday, one fire spanned two hectares and the others were smaller than one hectare.

Smoke from the fire is affecting air quality and visibility in the area, the ECCC statement says. The agency advises people to limit their time indoors and be wary of symptoms of smoke inhalation.

Seniors, pregnant people, smokers, infants and young children, people who work or exercise outside and people with some pre-existing health conditions may be more adversely affected by smoke, the statement says. 

The air in central and southern Alberta communities, such as Red Deer, Calgary and Lethbridge, were "low risk" Saturday, but could be minimally affected Sunday, the health index suggests.

The worsened air comes as a heat wave has settled over Alberta. Most of the province remains under a heat warning with daytime highs expected to reach 28 C to 36 C, according to ECCC.

Communities affected by thick wildfire smoke could record temperatures a few degrees cooler than predicted, but the combination of heat and poor air quality will increase the health risk, the agency says.

The heat wave has surged fire activity, too, said Tucker, of Alberta Wildfire, adding that 40 per cent of the fire reported so far this year sparked in July.

"We usually get more wildfires in May. It's unusual for us to get so many fires when we have green leaves on the trees and grasses because having that moisture tends to cut down on the wildfire activity," she said.