On Tuesday at noon, residents of the Alberta hamlets of Peers, Mercoal and Robb were allowed back into their communities, which were evacuated last week due to two threatening wildfires, still burning out of control.
Irene Vanderwell’s home in Peers is located on the south edge of the community, where the flames nearly jumped the CN Rail train tracks just behind her property.
“It panicked me… I was worried about my home and starting over at my age,” said Vanderwell. She said all she could do was trust that wildfire officials would do their best to keep the flames back.
Patty Stevens and her husband live just outside the evacuation zone in Peers, but they could see the wildfire from their home.“The flames make it more real. The smoke can be off in a distance, but you see those flames, you know it’s not that far away,” said Stevens.
Gillian Vincent works at the liquor store in Peers and says she saw the first signs of smoke.
“It was about a mile south of Peers and I didn’t actually see the lightning strike, but I saw where the fire had started,” she said.
While evacuees have since been allowed back home, there are two wildfires south of Peers that are classified as out of control, according to the province.
Wade Williams, mayor of Yellowhead County, says although officials have deemed it safe for residents to return to their homes, everyone should remain on alert.
“Everybody should have an evacuation plan, fuel in their vehicles and have everything ready to go on a few moments notice,” Williams said.
Because the flames got so close to the hamlet of Peers, Williams said, he was relieved to see that it was still standing when he visited Saturday morning.
He credits firefighters’ efforts. In addition to crews fighting the wildfire in the forest from the ground and sky, there was a monstrous effort in and around Peers to keep the flames away.
“Crews had sprinkler protection set up in this hamlet with high-flow sprinklers, which create a humidity bubble,” Williams said.
“And as the fire was coming in, CN shut their tracks down and put their Neptune train on here, which is a huge sprinkler train. It went back and forth along these tracks for about eight hours, spraying water up into the air.”
As firefighters continue to battle the fires in the distance, inside the community, residents will see firefighting equipment scattered around.
“There’s bright yellow hoses strung out all over and they set up very large sprinklers that can sprinkle and spray water over big distances,” said David Russell, a Yellowhead County councillor.
Peers is not new to wildfire evacuations. Residents of the rural community were forced to flee in 2023 as well.
“We really don’t want this to become normal. You’d never get used to this. It brings back horrible feelings,” said Stevens.
Vanderwell said she feels a sense of calm with the helicopters in the distance, knowing that the crews are doing the best they can. Still she remains prepared to leave.
Moving forward, she said, she will keep a go-bag packed with essential items in her vehicle in case she needs to leave again.
“I guess there’s no sense worrying about something you can’t control, right? So, you know, you just have to hope that it doesn’t happen again.”
