Wildfire burning within 1km of Fox Creek, Alta., flames jumped Highway 43: officials
CTV
Firefighters are digging in to try to save Fox Creek from a wildfire burning dangerously close to homes in the northwestern Alberta town, officials said Friday.
Firefighters are digging in to try to save Fox Creek from a wildfire burning dangerously close to homes in the northwestern Alberta town, officials said Friday.
A pair of out-of-control blazes dubbed the "Eagle Complex" are threatening the town of roughly 2,000, including a fire that is within a kilometer of houses.
"I wouldn't want to predict how much closer it's going to be moving," said Christie Tucker from Alberta Wildfire.
"I know that this is a priority wildfire for our firefighters. This is something that we are putting a lot of resources on. We have firefighters, aircraft and heavy equipment all working to reinforce the containment lines."
About 88,000 hectares of forest has burned in the area.
Residents were told to leave Fox Creek on May 6 and head to an evacuation centre in Whitecourt. The order remained in place Friday and more rural residents were told to leave the area around 5 p.m.
"Right now the weather is our biggest enemy. The shifts in wind direction continue to present problems that our crews are working diligently to solve," mayor Sheila Gilmour wrote in a statement.
