The majority of evacuees from Athabasca County, alongside displaced the Village of Boyle residents, are cleared to return home nearly forty hours after they were evacuated Tuesday night.
In a 10:00 a.m. update, Mayor Colin Derko announced people were cleared to start the re-entry process after firefighters were able to contain and later hold the Highway 831 wildfire that ignited Tuesday afternoon. Derko credited the hard work of volunteers, community partners, neighbouring municipalities, and everyone else who chipped in to help prevent the fire from burning its way into his home town.
"Thank you all so much. Thank you to the volunteers, who have stepped up to help in so many ways that are nothing short of amazing. We can't thank you enough for saving our village."
For details on the re-entry plan, click here.
Not everyone that was evacuated is cleared to return yet. Sixteen Athabasca County residences along Highway 831 south of Boyle are still under an evacuation order — the full list can be found on Athabasca County's website.
County Reeve Tracy Holland said there wasn't a firm timeline in place for the remaining evacuees due to the fire, but said crews were still working on getting everyone back home as soon as they could.
"It will definitely depend on what is happening with the fire front (and) where they're at with the work that's needed to mop off all the hot spots. All of these things need to be taken into consideration," she said.
Overnight rain was a large factor in the sudden change of fortunes, with temperatures dropping and aiding fire crews as they worked. Derko said watching the various departments, government agencies, and volunteers work together was an impressive sight, and he wasn't shy about crediting the men and women for the work they did.
"They don't take any of the credit, but for them to organize their teams, who then took it to the next level. They mentioned today it was incredible how they worked together, because that first night when we called the order, it was not good," he said.
"It was coming fast and they were in danger but they just kept working and we never lost one house, no livestock. That's nothing short of a miracle."
