Photo courtesy Facebook/Deb Stecyk

By Jeff Henson

HIGH LEVEL WILDFIRE

State of Emergency and Evacuation Alert Declared for High Level

May 20, 2019 | 12:50 PM

A state of local emergency and evacuation alert has been issued for the town of High Level, as a result of a fast growing wildfire.

The Chuckegg Creek wildfire has almost tripled in soxe since last night, and is now 690 square kilometres in size.

It has also moved to within 5 km south of High Level.

While no formal evacuation orders have been issued as of yet, residents of High Level are being asked to prepare to evacuate at a moment’s notice.

Power is currently out in High Level and the entire Mackenzie County, with ATCO hoping to have service restored by around supper time tonight.

Sprinkler protection operations will begin today in both High Level and at the Tolko mill.

Meanwhile, the Notikewan fire is now about 10 km northwest of Manning. It crossed the Chin road yesterday, leading to the closure of that road and evacuations of camps and facilities along that road.

The wildfire hazard is currently Extreme in the Peace River, High Level and Slave Lake Forest Management Areas, with fire bans and off-highway vehicle restrictions in place in all three regions

And RCMP in Edson have re-opened Highway 16 west of that community after closing it for several hours last night due to smoke from wildfires in that area. Some rural properties on both sides of the highway near Marlboro have been evacuated.