Parkland fire could be `longtime fight,' official says

A wildfire west of Edmonton hadn't grown since Friday but fire crews didn't consider it under control Sunday.

Firefighters continue to battle the 2,200-hectare wildfire in Parkland County between Highway 22 and Range Road 63 and between Township Road 510 and Township Road 524.

On Sunday, county residents were notified of heavy smoke in the area, west of Tomahawk and into Seba Beach and Wabamun Lake.

The area remained in a local state of emergency and residents in the area were asked to be prepared to evacuate with limited notice if conditions changed.

On Saturday, a mandatory evacuation notice was lifted, allowing residents to return to their homes. As of Friday, about 45 residents had registered as evacuees, said Brian Cornforth, Parkland County's director of emergency management.

It wasn't believed there was any damage to homes at the time, but Cornforth said a number of power poles had been destroyed.

The wildfire began Thursday afternoon and had been fuelled by strong winds and peat moss in the area.

“This is an area that has a lot of peat moss; it's actually a commercially harvested crop out of this zone,” Cornforth said Friday. “So it's peat moss that the fire has now gone into, so this will be a fire that's a longtime fight for us.

About 60 firefighters, 35 pieces of fire apparatus and two helicopters were helping to fight the fire.

The cause of the fire hasn't been determined.