Slave Lake wildfire update
Posted May 22, 2011 3:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There are now 46 active wildfires with eight out of control.
Already over 300-thousand hectares have been affected.
The average range is between three to five thousand hectares and last year it was around two thousand.
Anastasia Drummond with Sustainable Resources tells 660News the dry weather is the reason it’s been such an active season.
“It’s just been the conditions we’ve been facing, lack of precipitation, dry conditions and a lot of the area hasn’t greened up yet. We are seeing a lot of dry, dead standing material that just burns very easily and puts us in the situation we are in right now.”
She adds, that every long weekend they see a huge spike in human caused fires mainly due to abandoned camp fires and adds that’s the reason it’s important to comply with the province wide fire ban even though it has been a wet weekend.
Fire crews on the ground at near the town of Slave Lake are working long hours to contain two wildfires burning in the region.
Wildfire Information Officer, Jeffrey Driscoll tells 660News that the long, hot, dirty work is paying off for those involved.
He says crews are making headway against the blazes with fireguards helping to contain them.
There are over 350 firefighters in the area putting out hotspots and over two thousand working on fighting fires in Alberta.
The fire that burned into the town is still being fought, but the recent cool, wet weather is helping beat back the flames; however high winds blowing into the area, are hampering efforts.
