As dry conditions, warm temperatures and gusty winds combined to create near-perfect conditions for a nearby wildfire to grow, officials for a small Alberta community credit cooperation between municipalities when it came to a seamless overnight evacuation.
“Definitely, we’ve learnt from tragedies in the past,” said Colin Derko, the mayor of Boyle.
The village of around 900 people, about two hours north of Edmonton, was emptied Tuesday night after a wildfire to the south was blown north, coming within 1.6 kilometres of the village in Athabasca County.
“It was in a densely forested area mixed with wetlands, creating many challenges. Very dry conditions and strong winds caused the fire to spread north towards the village,” said Athabasca County Reeve Tracy Holland at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Derko echoed her sentiment about the winds and difficult terrain.
“There’s some heavy forest, lots of marshland. As it gets closer to town, there’s less trees and less wetlands. However, there is more residents,” Derko said.
The wet, difficult terrain meant it was difficult for heavy equipment to get into the woods to fight the flames and create fireguards — but Derko said crews, including volunteers, worked tirelessly overnight to save the rural Alberta community.
“They worked through the night on foot. A lot of them haven’t slept. They’re working so hard.”
The wildfire began Tuesday afternoon south of Boyle, along Highway 831 between the Boyle Fishpond and the Ellscott turnoff, and is believed to have been triggered by some power poles catching fire in the area. The official cause has yet to be determined.
The evacuation order covers the village of Boyle and surrounding rural Athabasca County properties, from Range Road 193 to 195 and south of Township Road 650.
The wildfire was 1,000 hectares, as of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The fire is outside the forest protection area where Alberta Wildfire takes the lead on the fight, however the provincial agency is providing aid to Athabasca County and Boyle.
“Our provincial partners have made this seamless for us,” Derko said, explaining the province worked to clear out the community’s health centre — which, he noted, hasn’t been offering acute care services for the past two years. “So that helped, oddly enough, that we didn’t have to evacuate hospital patients. That was one good thing out of a two-year closure that’s not so good.”
Before the call to evacuate came just before 11 p.m. on Tuesday, RCMP and village staff went door to door giving residents a heads up they were likely going to have to leave after a state of local emergency was declared around suppertime.
The mayor said many residents were proactive, leaving even before they had to.
“I’d like to credit the people at the Boyle Wildrose Villa for starting to get our seniors out early,” Derko said.
“We were able to get buses there and get our seniors brought to Athabasca long before we ever had to issue the order of evacuation.”
Other residents got themselves out, heading south to Edmonton, north to Grassland, west to Atahbasca and east to Lac La Biche, where a reception centre was set up at the Parkland Motels II to accept evacuees.
“Just the collaboration alone was, that’s why it went so smooth. Our residents showed up,” Derko said, adding he was contacted by many officials offering any and all assistance. “Lac La Biche was instrumental in helping us.”
Now, as the village sits empty, officials stress it needs to remain that way.
“We ask that people please stay away from the area — give the volunteers and the firefighters all the space they need,” Derko said.
“We don’t want to be chasing people coming in for unforeseen reasons,” he said, adding anyone who needs something from their home is asked to call the village office or the local RCMP detachment.
“We’ll help you to get what you need. You don’t need to sneak in. We just want you to be safe.”
People were also ordered to not fly drones over the area as they can affect aerial wildfire support.
“We want our firefighters to be safe and we want them focusing on fighting the fire, stopping it from coming into the village,” Derko added.
Emergency official explains negative impact of drones in restricted emergency zone
It’s not known when the evacuation order will be lifted.
Wind remains a weather concern on Wednesday, but cooler temperatures in the mid-teens are expected Thursday and much-needed rain is in the forecast.
Holland said fire crews from Athabasca County, along with joint assistance from Boyle, Lac La Biche, Strathmore, Slave Lake, Penhold, private contractors from the Athabasca County area, are battling that fire. It’s still too early to say if any properties have been lost.
“Their main focus right now is to is to keep that fire at bay and keep everyone safe,” Holland said.
Residents are asked to download the alertable app so they can get updates directly from the community of Boyle and sign up with Voyent Alert to get info from the county.
“If everyone can register for both, actually, and receive both updates from both municipalities would be great,” Holland said.
The county said it has been receiving offers and inquiries from local companies and contractors offering to help.
Those who can provide assistance are asked to call the county office at (780) 675-2273 and a member will collect information and reach out if aid is required.
Otherwise, the county said its administration office would be closed to the public on Wednesday, so anyone with urgent business to conduct or an appointment is asked to call ahead.