Rainy conditions continue to help firefighters in Alberta wildfire battle

More than one million hectares of land in Alberta are now estimated to have burned in a record-break‐ ing spring for wildfires.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 74 wildfires were burning across the province. In Alber‐ ta's forest protection zones, there were 71 wildfires — about 10 fewer than listed on Monday. Of these, 20 are still considered out of control.

At a news conference, Al‐ berta Wildfire information unit manager Christie Tucker said cooler temperatures and continued rain showers have dampened wildfire behaviour.

"Many of the major wild‐ fires burning received some rain, which means these are good days for firefighters to make real progress on con‐ taining these fires."

But Tucker indicated that the province must be pre‐ pared for a longer engage‐ ment.

"Even though we have made headway on many wild‐ fires on the landscape, we know that the season is far from over."

This is now the secondworst wildfire season — which runs until October — on record, Tucker said. The previous record was set in 1981, when 1.3 million hectares burned.

By this time last year, wild‐ fires had burned only 450 hectares.

Alberta continues to bring assistance from outside the province, including 96 fire‐ fighters from the United States arriving Wednesday and a team from Parks Cana‐ da that arrived Tuesday.

Tucker said additional fire‐ fighters from New Zealand and Australia are also expect‐ ed to arrive soon.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Aus‐ tralasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC) said more than 200 firefighters and incident management specialists will begin travelling to Canada from May 26-28.

The group includes ardu‐ ous firefighting crews and specialist roles like supervi‐ sion and aviation manage‐ ment, and all will be based in Alberta, the spokesperson said.

Sturgeon Lake complex being held

Tucker said firefighting ef‐ forts on the Sturgeon Lake complex near the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation and Val‐ leyview had been reclassified from out of control to being held, meaning it isn't expect‐ ed to grow beyond its current boundaries.

The complex, made up of two fires, is estimated to be nearly 10,000 hectares.

Around 10,000 Albertans are still waiting to return to their homes as 15 evacuation orders remain in place.

That includes the Munici‐ pal District of Greenview, where residents of Fox Creek and Little Smoky still can't go home. The eagle complex, now estimated at around 125,000 hectares, forced the evacuation from some areas more than two weeks ago.

Tucker said it's under‐ standable that some people are frustrated and anxious to return home.

"But fighting fire is not something that will change overnight — particularly when you're dealing with a large-scale fire like this one," she said.

"What we can do is fight the fire to the best of our abil‐ ity."

Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued rainfall warnings for a large portion of western Alberta. Heavy rain with amounts of 50 to 75 mm is expected through until the middle of the week.

It warns heavy downpours can cause flash floods and water pooling on roads as well as reduced visibility while driving.

Meanwhile, a special air quality statement remains in place for much of central and northern Alberta but no longer applies to Edmonton and southern Alberta.

East Prairie Métis Settle‐ ment

Raymond Supernault, chair of the East Prairie Métis Settlement in northern Alber‐ ta, said he hopes the rain will be enough to help his com‐ munity.

"Right now we are going to start to heal," he said in an in‐ terview Monday. Supernault said the big hurdle is getting power back on.

He praised the firefighters from the community who had put themselves in danger to save lives and homes. A video circulating online shows local firefighters running down a road with large flames domi‐ nating the forest line.

The settlement has seen 14 family homes destroyed, including where Jessica Big Charles lived with her partner and daughter.

WATCH | Downpour a re‐ lief for Métis community threatened by wildfires:

Big Charles, who's lived in East Prairie her whole life, has been staying in a hotel in High Prairie for more than two weeks.

"We didn't even have time to grab anything important – pictures, nothing," she said Monday of the evacuation.

"We just had what we had on our backs."

Without fire insurance, she said the future was unfore‐ seeable.

"I don't know if I'm going to get a new home or where I'm going to live or how I'm going to move forward."