Certain areas of the forest west of Rocky Mountain House reopened at 4 p.m. on Tuesday as activity from the Spreading Creek Wildfire abated.
The Kootenay Plains, the area south of Hwy 11, remains closed, extending east from Banff National Park border to Whiterabbit Creek. However, the Thompson Creek Provincial Recreation Area is now open.
The order restricts all recreational, industrial and public access in the affected area. Only authorized individuals with a valid permit from Environment and Sustainable Resoruce Development may access it.
There are no residential communities in the closed region and travellers on Hwy 11 are not restricted.
For a map of the affected area, visit albertafirebans.ca.
The wildfire hazard level is now moderate for most of the Rocky Wildfire Management Area. There are some areas that have not received much precipitation and are still at a higher hazard level.
Since the beginning of the fire season, 42 wildfires have occurred in the area and 16,400 acres have burnt.
The Spreading Creek wildfire is the only active wildfire in the Rocky WMA and is classified as being held. This wildfire size is now a total of 22,000 acres, with 16,300 acres within the Rocky WMA and 5,700 acres in Banff National Park.