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RCMP look for six witnesses as part of Slave Lake fire investigation

Alberta RCMP say they are trying to locate six potential witnesses in their investigation into the $700-million wildfire last May that ravaged Slave Lake.

EDMONTON — Alberta RCMP say they are trying to locate six potential witnesses in their investigation into the $700-million wildfire last May that ravaged Slave Lake.

The province said in November that an unknown arsonist ignited the raging forest fire that reduced a third of town to ash and left 2,000 people homeless.

The government then handed the file to the RCMP, which said it would be difficult to investigative more than five months after the blaze.

Doris Stapleton, an RCMP spokeswoman, says these six people were seen in the area where the fire broke out the day before it burned the town.

She says these people are not criminal suspects, but potential witnesses.

RCMP say police are still trying to gather evidence and have yet to determine if the probe is a criminal investigation.