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Photo courtesy Alberta Wildfire
By Jeff Henson
WILDFIRE UPDATE

Work continues on wildfires burning in Saddle Hills County and M-D of Greenview

Jun 22, 2023 | 7:44 AM

Saddle Hills County wildfires

One of the two wildfires that make up the Boone Lake Complex is now listed as Being Held by Alberta Wildfire.

They say the fire 20 km north of Valhalla near the northeast side of Boone Lake is now 100 per cent contained by a fire guard. It is listed as being 871 hectares in size. The south perimeter is held adjacent to Boone Lake and is being supported with a long-term retardant, helicopter bucketing, and heavy equipment and ground resources.

Meanwhile, the fire located approximately 10 km west of Deadwood Lake is still listed as out of control at 7,139 hectares in size and is moving east. Heavy equipment is being moved from the other Boone Lake area fire in order to help with fire guard construction. Crews are on the northwest flank of that wildfire working the perimeter from east to west, monitoring and putting out hotspots.

A fire 7.5 km northwest of Moonshine Lake Provincial Park is also listed as being held. A fire guard around the perimeter of that fire has been completed, and firefighters continue to work on securing the guard with the assistance of a helicopter bucketing water.

Eagle Complex in the M-D of Greenview

More than 300 firefighters and support personnel continue to battle the Eagle Complex wildfires near Fox Creek and Little Smoky.

Besides extinguishing active fires and patrolling for hot spots along the priority spots on the fire line of both fires, ground crews and heavy equipment also continue to try and strengthen and extend containment lines around the two main fires within the complex.

Firefighters from Australia, B.C., Idaho, and South Africa are assisting Alberta Wildfire in battling these blazes.

Bot wildfires are now Being Held and WWF-023 (east of Highway 43) is listed as Being Held at 66,436 hectares, while GWF-027 is still listed as out of control at 54,988 hectares.

by Jeff Henson