Extreme drought conditions continue to prolong the Wood Buffalo Complex, even as milder weather gave wildfire fighters room to maneuver.
An update was posted to the Wood Buffalo National Park social media page at 12:26 p.m. Sept. 6.
“More mild weather has been helping with firefighting efforts, but temperatures into next week are trending back into above-seasonal again,” said Wood Buffalo National Park fire information officer Alyssa Etsell. “It is very, very dry.
“The drought code remains over 1,100. The highest recorded drought code for this area was approximately 840. In August, the area around Fort Smith usually receives an average of around 64 millimetres of precipitation – this year the area received 5 mm in total. That is 7.9% of the average monthly precipitation for August. Helicopters continued yesterday to support suppression efforts and bucket pockets of higher activity throughout the day, working in close communication with firefighters on the ground.”
Testing of the sprinkler systems and other structure protection units in nearby communities continues. Community based wildfire crews are also putting out hot spots in their vicinity as they flare up.
Firefighters are using heat sensors, both from the ground and the air, to pinpoint hot spots and GPS to keep a lock on them. This allows firefighters to take a “seek and destroy” approach to each hot spot.
Wildfires crossed the Salt River in two spots near Thebacha and Foxholes Road, but crews are containing both of them. Sprinkler systems have been outfitted through the community and no known property has been damaged at this time. A containment line near Grand de tour Road is complete. Firefighters are now working to extinguish the fire from the line, sometimes using controlled burns to direct the fire into the containment line where it can be put out safely. Firefighters advise there may also be controlled burns along Foxholes Road for similar purpose.
Work on the containment lines in Fort Fitzgerald is still underway, with crews extinguishing hot spots along the way. Work is about to commence on the construction of helipads to allow for more aerial support of the region.
Highway 5 from Hay River to Fort Smith remains closed due to poor visibility. Pine Lake Road from Bordertown to Peace Point is closed due to active fires and firefighting in the region.
“Along the main northeastern edge of the fire closest to Fort Smith, crews continue to work east off Highway 5 and west off Pine Lake Road – to meet in the middle, extinguishing hot spots along the way,” said Etsell. “Firefighters have been reporting hot spots in this area are sometimes 2-3 feet deep. Putting out spots this deep requires a lot of effort, using different tools, equipment, bucket support from helicopters and lots of water.”
At last estimate, the Wood Buffalo Complex was 472,944 hectares in size. In total, 377 personnel, 70 pieces of heavy equipment, 19 helicopters and 196 firefighters and structure protection specialists are at work containing the Wood Buffalo Complex.
Towns of Fort Smith and Fort Fitzgerald remain under Evacuation Order and a State of Local Emergency.
Etsell noted that communities have started to design re-entry plans but those plans were still in the early stages and it remains unsafe to return.
“Before fire personnel can recommend to communities that it’s safe to return, the northeastern perimeter of the fire – stretching from Thebacha down underneath Fort Smith and across to below Fort Fitzgerald – must be free of hot spots and extinguished far enough in that fire will not spread outside the current boundary,” she said. “Structure protection around communities will also need to be removed. We are getting closer each day, but we’re not there yet.
“Communities have been doing re-entry planning, so once the recommendation from fire personnel is made, it will trigger the start of their re-entry plans. For more information on those plans, please reach out to your community.
“Until re-entry plans begin, it is still unsafe for members of the public to be here. Large equipment, fire operations and structure protection systems require extra room and fire personnel need to focus on fire suppression. There are limited supplies in the community – what remains is needed to ensure first responders are properly equipped to stay here and manage the incident.”