A state of local emergency was lifted in Sturgeon County yesterday as firefighters gained control over a wildfire that has raged for more than a week.
The fire claimed three homes and several more outbuildings and scorched more than 2,100 hectares of land.
Sturgeon fire Chief Bart Clark said crews made good progress thanks to some favourable conditions this past weekend and were able to encircle the fire and isolate it to areas that have already been burned.
He said even with 50-kilometre-per-hour winds on Tuesday the fire remained contained.
“The winds were pretty severe today, but our fire breaks held.”
The fire broke out between Redwater and Gibbons and the state of local emergency applied to the area between Range Roads 230 to 223 and from Township Road 564 in the south, and north running to Highway 28.
The repeal of the state of emergency means residents can now return to their homes. Clark said he was relieved to be able to allow residents back in.
At the scene of the blaze, in addition to the charred skeletons of many buildings, burned grass and trees could be seen within metres of several other homes.
Clark said they had been able to determine where the fire started, but they don’t believe they will ever be able to determine a cause.
“Any evidence has either been consumed by the fire or was taken away.”
He said he could eliminate cigarette butts and ATVs as possible causes, but everything else remained on the table.
Coun. Karen Shaw, who represents the area and lives close to the fires, said she was very impressed with the work of firefighters.
“From the fire department perspective those guys really worked their butts off.”
Shaw said council will still try to find ways to improve the county’s response for the next inevitable fires. She said she has heard concerns from several residents about how the county communicated the initial evacuation.
“There is a bit of disconnect in that initial contact, there needs to be a better plan in place,” she said. “There is always some ways to improve and unfortunately you learn from each fire.”
Shaw said council hasn’t yet got any estimates on what the fire cost the county, but it hasn’t really been a top of mind concern while homes were still being threatened.
“It is going to be expensive I know that, but you can’t put a price on people’s homes and their lives.”
Clark said too many of the costs are still coming in, so it is hard to know what the final tally might be.
He estimated the fire cost at a minimum $20,000 per day and could go as high as $90,000 or more.
Tinder-dry conditions remained across some large part of the county and a complete fire ban and an ATV ban are still in place.
Clark said the weather was starting to turn in their favour, but the bans would remain for at least a few days.
“We still need a lot of green-Up, but things are getting better every day.”
