In the early afternoon hours on May 13, a wildfire started burning just northeast of Grassland towards Alberta Pacific Forest Industries (Al-Pac). The fire is located approximately 17 kilometres northwest from the mill site.
In the early afternoon hours on May 13, a wildfire started burning just northeast of Grassland towards Alberta Pacific Forest Industries (Al-Pac). The fire is located approximately 17 kilometres northwest from the mill site.
The fire has no official start time but wildfire information officer for Environment and Sustainable Resources Development (ESRD) Geoffrey Driscoll said that by 5:30 p.m. an estimated 700 hectares had already burned. At the time, crews had already been on scene for hours including four local fire departments and crews from ESRD including 20 personnel, three helicopters with water basins, and various amounts of air tankers.
Although the cause has yet to be determined, Driscoll said that more than likely it is human caused even if it was not intentional.
“There are really only two ways wild fires start - lightning and human caused - and since we haven ’t really had much lightning yet this year, it is more than likely that this fire was started by human-related causes, ” Driscoll said.
Driscoll added that human causes can be anything from farmers working in their fields and nicking a rock to people using off-road vehicles where debris collects on hot spots like around the engine and then falls to the ground, which can then spark up if the conditions are right.
In this case the conditions were exactly right and Driscoll noted that with the warm temperatures and strong winds it allowed the fire to grow and spread quickly. Currently, despite the close distance between the pulp mill and the edge of the flames, Al-Pac is safe given that the winds are heading in the exact opposite direction of the mill. Driscoll said that even if the winds happened to change it would be very hard for the flames to re-burn an area that has already been burned before.
“This is still under investigation as it is still being worked on by crews but it ’s most likely human caused and since it ’s really early in the season it ’s too bad that we have such a big fire, ” Driscoll said. “We really don ’t need to be having any human caused fires. This just goes to show how careful people need to be in forested areas of Alberta. ”
According to Athabasca County communications officer Alex Denonville, the fire has caused the closure of a portion of Highway 63 from the corner of Highway 55 towards Wandering River and past Atmore. Denonville noted that the county said the less people on the roads the better and they are urging people to find alternate routes and avoid the roads in that area and let the professionals do their job.
By 7:15 p.m. ESRD had still considered the fire to be out of control with zero per cent containment. At the time, Driscoll said that fire crews on scene were setting up a command post and will be fighting the flames throughout the evening into the following day and they will have a better understanding of the damage later on when more of it has been contained.
