EDMONTON — Warm weather, dry conditions and high winds continue to plague rural areas surrounding Edmonton in the form of brush fires.
Residents are being evacuated due to fires threatening homes in Lamont County, northeast of the city.
Rural residents near Bruderheim are also being moved to a nearby recreation centre due to fast-moving flames.
Highway 860 northeast of Fort Saskatchewan has been closed.
Fire crews from several counties, the Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan fire departments and some oil companies are battling the blazes.
Some relief is expected as rain is in the forecast for the next few days.
“We have two homes west of Range Road 211 that are currently threatened by fire,” deputy chief Ken Jones of the Strathcona County fire department said Monday.
“Our crews are defending those homes. We’ve successfully kept the fire from threatening the structures.”
Crews were also trying to contain a wildfire burning near the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary.
Fires also continued burning on the Pigeon Lake and Hobbema reserves, where three homes and several abandoned houses were destroyed Sunday.
For a second straight day, water bombers attacked from above as firefighters defended on the ground.