Three new wildfires kept firefighters busy in the Rocky Mountain House area on Wednesday.
All three fires were discovered on Tuesday. The largest was an out-of-control fire 61 acres in size, located about 45 km north of Nordegg.
“There are no communities, towns or structures at risk from that fire,” said information officer Sara Shier with Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.
There are no campgrounds in the area and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
About 90 firefighters, helicopters and heavy equipment were working on a containment guard around the fire that was discovered at 1:20 p.m. from a lookout tower.
Two smaller wildfires have been brought under control. One fire, about 40 km south of Rocky Mountain House, was six acres. Another fire was 13.5 acres and was located 95 km northwest of Rocky. The cause of both fires was still under investigation.
Firefighters were also continuing to work on the 3,221-acre fire under control near Lodgepole and the 617.5-acre fire being held near Nordegg.
“We’ve got lots of machines, lots of firefighters doing their best to fully contain the (Nordegg) fire,” Shier said.
For the safety of firefighters and the public, some trails were closed near the Nordegg town site and the mine site while firefighting operations continued. The Forestry Trunk Road remained closed to the North Saskatchewan River.
“I know we have some high winds coming up today. But it looks like we’ll have quite a bit of rain Friday and Saturday.”
The wildfire hazard for the Rocky Mountain House area is very high.
“Be careful. It’s a dangerous time of year. Our crews need a break,” Shier said.