The City of St. Albert says its ready to support wildfire evacuees if called upon by the provincial government.
At least 6,600 Fort McMurray residents were ordered to evacuate yesterday afternoon due to a wildfire encroaching on the city limits, and many others reportedly evacuated without official orders to.
Evacuees were first sent to Lac La Biche, before then being told to go to Cold Lake once Lac La Biche reached capacity.
The City of Edmonton began accepting evacuees at the Clareview Community Recreation Centre at 9:00 p.m. last night, and as of noon on Wednesday is still able to help those who fled.
The City of Edmonton has responded to a request for assistance from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency to support a wildfire evacuation.
— City of Edmonton (@CityofEdmonton) May 15, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/ik0VSdTxbe#ymm #rmwb #abwildfire pic.twitter.com/mB9HZCWFVA
City of St. Albert spokesperson Marci Ng said in an email that the city has not received any evacuees yet, but is ready to help if needed.
“The city is ready to support communities in their time of need and will activate its Emergency Coordination Centre, upon request by the Province of Alberta,” Ng said.
Alberta Wildfire officials told reporters on Wednesday morning that the fire threatening Fort McMurray grew to nearly 21,000 hectares in size on Tuesday, and is now just under six kilometres southwest from the municipality's landfill.
Wildfire Status Update from Alberta Wildfire
— rmwoodbuffalo (@RMWoodBuffalo) May 15, 2024
- The fire size is approximately 21,000ha.
- The fire is approximately 4.5km from Hwy 63/Hwy 881 intersection and approximately 5.5 km from the landfill site.
- Overnight aerial operations continued until 3 a.m. with night vision… pic.twitter.com/Vf3z3KWFC5
Over 100 firefighters are fighting the blaze, along with 14 helicopters.
Last summer St. Albert welcomed almost 800 evacuees from the Northwest Territories when multiple wildfires threatened Yellowknife, Hay River, and other communities.
For more information about the Fort McMurray fire, including latest updates, visit the Alberta Wildfire website.
