Seeding while a wildfire burns in Northern Sunrise County in May 2023 (photo submitted Tanner Krawchuk)

By Erika Rolling

Wildfires

Dunes West wildfire update: Local farmers called to disc or seed land, Canadian Military arrives

May 10, 2023 | 8:29 AM

Help continues to arrive to help crews with fighting the Dunes West wildfire, south of the City.

On Tuesday, a 4-person reconnaissance team from the Canadian Military landed in Grande Prairie to assess the wildfire and determine the need for wildland firefighting trained soldiers.

Updated mapping data shows the fire has burned an estimated 1,464 hectares and is still out-of-control.

***In a previous release by GPREP the estimated size of the fire being 4,700 hectares was a miscalculation due to a mistake of converting hectares to acres. They are apologizing for the incorrect data and are taking measures to prevent errors like this from happening again.***

The new data was collected by flythroughs of areas that were previously not allowed due to the conditions. Technical experts are still refining and adjusting the perimeter of the fire boundary for mapping purposes.

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The fire is most active along the riverbanks of the Wapiti River, but most of the activity is smouldering and less smoke and flames. If weather conditions change, flames could quickly flare up again.

Many hotspots are still active with embers and smouldering fuels such as tree logs, roots, and shrubs.

Crews have utilized the use of drones with temperature mapping technology to identify hotspots within burned areas so firefighters can respond.

Firefighters are reinforcing fire guard lines to strengthen the perimeter and using spray foam to push the outer 30 meters of the fire’s edge in.

Six helicopters will be working from above on Wednesday bucketing hotspot areas, especially along the riverbanks.

Damages

Preliminary damage assessments have identified Riverview Pines Estates and Spring Creek Estates are the most heavily impacted areas due to the wildfire.

Three homes in Riverview and one in Spring Creek were lost due to the blaze.

Other subdivisions in the evacuation order sustained property damage in; The Banks at Spring Creek, Deer Ridge, Deer Run, Dunes West, Mystic Ridge, Park Meadows, and Wapiti Heights Estates.

ATCO Gas and Electric and GP Networks began assessing infrastructure damages on Tuesday, as well as Aquatera Utilities flushing lines. Alberta Health and municipal safety code inspectors are working in the areas identified to continue assessments.

A formal assessment has not been done, but has began.

Temporary access permits

So far, 136 temporary access permits have been approved. The Grande Prairie Regional Emergency Partnership says if an evacuee’s temporary access permit was previously denied, they can re-apply, as the denial would have been due to the conditions at the time of their application.

Approvals are for one temporary access and there is currently a backlog of applications that are being processed as quickly as possible.

The evacuation order and alert remains unchanged.

Call for help, supplies, and volunteering

GPREP is asking local farmers with land between Township Roads 710 & 712, north of the evacuation zone to disc and/or seed their land to create an additional fire break.

Discing or seeding land can help slow the spread of fire by turning up soil and burying fuel sources.

If farmers have any questions, they can call the County’s Agricultural Fieldman Sonja Raven at 780-876-6936.

People wanting to offer resources such as equipment, supplies, or volunteer services can fill out a web form by clicking here.

An automatic reply will be sent as a confirmation receipt when the form is submitted.