An evacuation order has been issued for residents of Woodlands County due to an out-of-control wildfire burning in the area.
Alberta Wildfire sent out the emergency alert at 5:10 p.m. Monday.
The alert impacts everyone south of Highway 43, between West Ridge subdivision (Range Road 114), east to and including Range Road 111A in Woodlands County, as of 7:40 p.m.
All residents in the affected area are asked to gather their pets, important documentation and medications and evacuate immediately.
Those fleeing are instructed to register at the evacuation reception centre at the Allan and Jean Millar Centre in Whitecourt.
Devin Nichols was looking towards his home, hoping the flames wouldn’t reach it.
“It’s a panic attack,” said Nichols. “We did leave some pictures behind, but we got our passports and cash out safe.”
Nichols and a few of his friends worked to move vehicles out of his shop to a safe zone.
“So far, we’re pretty lucky,” he said.
‘Life-altering situation’
Woodlands County Reeve Dave Kusch was coaching a little league softball team when the evacuation alert was sent out.
“It’s an incredibly life-altering situation,” Kusch told CTV News Edmonton. “The last few years, we’ve counted ourselves lucky. We’ve watched fires unfortunately hit all of our neighbouring municipalities, and we’ve been lucky to avoid it.”
He said the fire started as a grass fire in a dense subdivision area.
“With the dry grass and dry trees and everything, it just caught and took,” said Kusch, adding that the warm temperatures and gusty winds were also a factor in the spreading of the fire.
There are about 30 homes in the affected area, said Whitecourt Mayor Ray Hilts.
“When you look at county residents, we consider them our residents,” said Hilts. “They’re Whitecourt people, and we think of them that way when we respond.”
Staff ‘well equipped’: mayor
More than 100 people have registered at the evacuation centre.
The mayor said they were in the midst of a council meeting when they got word of the fire.
“We’ve got a lot of history with a number of events we’ve had in and around the province, so our staff are well equipped to resurrect that emergency management structure,” said Hilts. “They were able to get everything in place and get that off the ground within minutes.”
No evacuation alert has been issued for the town of about 10,000 people, but residents are encouraged to be prepared.
The fire is about 3.5 kilometres southeast from Whitecourt and is about 55 hectares in size.
Alberta Wildfire says there are firefighters, helicopters, heavy equipment and airtankers actively working to extinguish the fire with the assistance from local municipal fire departments.
Night-vision equipped helicopters have been requested for overnight when the fire behaviour is expected to be lower with cooler temperatures.
Taeven Keylor was waiting at a gas station near the evacuation zone to see if anyone needed help leaving the area.
“There is a pile of water bombers and everything going around trying to put this fire out,” said Keylor in an interview.
He said he could see large plumes of smoke and high winds.
“There is a bit of panic from people just wondering what’s going on, which way the fire is moving, and if Whitecourt will have to evacuate.”
Woodlands County is about 150 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
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With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson and Miriam Valdes-Carletti
