WHITECOURT — A wildfire forced the evacuation of the Eagle River Casino near Whitecourt, on Sunday.
Officials said the blaze was just 300 metres from the casino, which was shut down as a precaution.
Fire officials said several crews working from the ground and air were battling the 15-hectare fire. There were no injuries and no homes in the area were threatened.
Geoffrey Driscoll of Sustainable Resource Development said the blaze was classified as out of control but added firefighters hoped to have it contained by the evening. Overall, Driscoll said that with the forest fire season just three weeks old, the fire danger rating in parts of Alberta was already sitting at moderate to high.
Since Alberta’s forest fire season began April 1, there have been 194 fires in the areas covered by Sustainable Resource Development — a six-fold increase over last year, which saw just 33 by the same date.
Low water levels and a lack of rain and snow have left conditions very dry across much of the province.
There’s been little or no lightning in the last three weeks, so that means most of the fires have been caused by humans.
Driscoll said such fires are 100 per cent preventable and asked Albertans to hold off on burning any materials until conditions are more favourable.
“And if they are in the forest they have to really make sure they’re careful out there, that they’re fully extinguishing their campfires,” he said.
“They have to thoroughly soak their campfires, stir the ashes then soak them again.”
Fire bans are in effect in several areas of the province, including popular spots like Bragg Creek Provincial Park, Chain Lakes Provincial Park, Glennifer Reservoir Provincial Recreation Area, Red Lodge Provincial Park, Rochon Sands Provincial Park and Steveville Campsite at Dinosaur Provincial Park.
The fires have been relatively small so far, with just 4.2 square kilometres being burned — not a high number but still a four-fold increase over last year, said Driscoll.