About 5,000 people continue to wait nervously as a wildfire threaten their homes in the northern Alberta hamlet of Wabasca and the nearby Bigstone Cree First Nation Tuesday.
The residents received some good news this morning as the fire did not grow appreciably overnight and is moving away from the hamlet.
The province’s numbers as at 10 a.m. MT Tuesday show the number of fires in the province at 66, down from 72 overnight with 19 considered out of control, down from 29.
The Wabasca residents are taking refuge in the community of Calling Lake, about 200 kilometres north of Edmonton. While many are staying at a local evacuation centre, others are staying in campers.
On Monday an evacuation order was upgraded to mandatory as the wildfire remained out of control.
Alberta is now under a provincewide fire ban as hot, dry weather has elevated the fire hazard to high, very high or extreme over most of the province.
About 1,600 firefighters and approximately 100 aircraft are battling wildfires. Ontario and Quebec have sent additional resources to help out.
Watch waterbombers load up with water from Slave Lake to fight area wildfires
Water bombers on Slave Lake. Brings back not so good memories…
Posted by Becky Reason on Monday, May 25, 2015
