Alberta wildfires: 25 homes destroyed in Yellowhead County as Edson residents return home

The mayor of Yellowhead County told Motorcycle accident toronto today on Monday that at least 25 homes have been destroyed by wildfire.

Wade Williams said the properties were in Shining Bank and south of Wildwood and Evansburg.

An evacuation order remains in place for the far eastern and southern sections of Yellowhead County, including the hamlets of Evansburg and Wildwood.

“There is still a lot of smoke in the area. It’s too dangerous to open highways, so we have to get those fires under control,” Williams said Sunday night.

“Above that, our power, gas, water and sewer are not functioning in either one of those two hamlets, so that’s going to take us some time.”

“The evacuation of Evansburg and Wildwood will remain in effect for now,” he reiterated Monday.

“We still have a lot of issues that need to be worked out before re-entry can happen.”

While residents there will have to wait to return home, more than 8,000 people in Edson were allowed back Monday. Many have been out since Friday, when an out-of-control wildfire prompted an evacuation order for the area.

The evacuation order from Marlboro to the Chip Lake area including the town of Edson was lifted at 8 a.m. Monday and the Yellowhead Highway from Hinton to Edson reopened.

“I’m happy to be home,” Bill Lyons said. He said the last several days “haven’t been horrible but you know, it’s just nice to be home.”

For many, it marks the end of three consecutive mornings waking up in parking lots, hotel rooms, on cots in community gyms and on the hard ground in a dome of nylon tenting.

“Two nights in the tent. We finally got a hotel room,” said Lindsay Austin, surrounded by his four children and a myriad of furry friends. “It will be nice to sleep in a bed … It’s been a little nerve-wracking.”

“I want to be at home. I’m worried about what’s going on,” said 17-year-old Lakaia Austin. “There’s been no settling.”

Shuttle busses will be available to transport people from evacuation centres in both Jasper and Hinton.

Drivers are being encouraged to stagger their re-entry plans to avoid the bumper-to-bumper gridlock experienced during the evacuation.

The mayor cautioned it’s going to take time to get services up and running again including grocery stores, gas stations and the hospital, which was completely emptied of people on Friday.

“We got up early at around 6:30 and decided to go back as soon as they let us,” said gas station owner Gurman Brar. “We came back and started opening the store.”

A new reception centre has been set up in Edson.

 

Both mayors spent much of Sunday meeting with residents, who have a lot of questions about a lack of resources to battle the large out-of-control fires, the largest on Sunday measuring 80,000 hectares — roughly the size of New York City.

“Myself and Mayor Zahara, along with our teams, we’ve been on the phone non-stop to government officials, our MLAs, with the RMA, the EMA (emergency management agency) … to try to get some more help and to get this state of emergency declared.”

The province declared a state of emergency Saturday afternoon.

“Yeah, it was too late,” Williams said. “But on top of that, we have 103 fires burning within the province. I’m not going to stand here and start ditching people because everybody had a lot going on.”

Still, he said the county has had 13 wildfires burning in its communities, a situation that has been very hard to manage.

“Do we feel like we were left a little bit high and dry? Yes, we certainly do, and residents certainly do,” Williams said.

“You can always use more help,” Edson Mayor Kevin Zahara said. “I think provincially, if we look at the situation, we definitely need more resources within the province of Alberta.

“We need to be focused on ensuring our communities are safe,” he said.

“But we’ve never seen dry conditions like this so early in the spring.”

Temperatures are forecast to soar again mid-week and despite the evacuation order being lifted, nobody is celebrating just yet, knowing this crisis is far from over.

“The rain has really helped, and the humidity and the cooler temperatures, and it’s given time for crews to protect the community. We have a lot of apparatus in town ready to respond to any emergencies, so we feel it’s safe to re-enter and get people back home,” Zahara said Sunday night.

“We’re very fortunate the winds changed. It was blowing directly towards the town of Edson just a few days ago. The wind shifted (Saturday) and crews have been working hard trying to stop that fire, putting breaks in and other methods. We’re very happy to see we’re in a much better situation.”

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