Photo courtesy AB Wildfire

By Erika Rolling

Wildfires

Wildfire danger ratings lowered in GPFA and PRFA

Aug 19, 2024 | 7:49 AM

Wildfire danger ratings have been brought down to Moderate in the Grande Prairie and Peace River Forest Area’s thanks to precipitation over the weekend.

GPFA

There is currently only one wildfire of note in the Grande Prairie Forest Area.

(GWF075) has been re-classified to being held at 50 hectares and is located approximately 4.2 km northeast of Albright Lake and 5.2 km east of Range Road 130. No growth has been observed on this fire but many hotspots remain inside the perimeter, especially on the east on south flanks.

Wildfire crews continue to work on this blaze breaking apart burnt trees and ground with heavy equipment, and exposing hot spots for ground workers to extinguish. There are two crews and two bucketing helicopters assigned to this fire.

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Since the start of 2024, there has been 96 wildfires in the GPFA, of those:

• 41 have been human caused,
• 40 were started by lightning,
• 15 remain under investigation

These fires have burnt a cumulative 409 hectares.

PFRA

The Peace River Forest Area has three wildfires of note burning, but all are at being held status.

One blaze (PWF095) located 40 km west of Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement has burnt 15 hectares and was caused by lightning. It is being worked on by firefighters and heavy equipment operators to contain and control the blaze.

The Deep Lake fire (PWF076) located 23 km northeast of Worsley was caused by lightning as well. This wildfire has burned approximately 12,184 hectares.

The Kemp River fire (PWF074) 17 km southwest of Keg River is at 3,232 hectares in size as of Sunday evening. Firefighters, helicopters, and heavy equipment operators continue fire suppression efforts to contain and control this wildfire, which was caused by lightning.

In the PRFA since January 1, 15,891 hectares have burned from 95 wildfires.

More wildfire resources:

• Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard
• Smoke Forecast
• Alberta Fire Bans