Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
Parks Canada will be maintaining a seasonal area closure around the full perimeter of the Chetamon wildfire.
This is intended to give a lot of weakened trees the room to fall down on open ground.
That means the next available opportunity for the public to travel down Celestine Lake Road won鈥檛 come until Spring 2023 when the elevated risk has zeroed out.
鈥淲e get these little storm events coming through like that cold front passage [Monday] that blows from three or four different directions. It can start stressing the trees that have maybe only been having to stay upright for southwinds or whatever. It should bring some stuff down over this winter, plus things are dry. We haven't really wet any of the soils and then pushed on them with the wind,鈥� said Local Incident Commander Landon Shepherd.
鈥淚t's primarily related to the trees. Some of them are going to be coming down over the next couple of months. We just don't know which ones they're going to be and where people would be wanting to move through, along with the fact that there's still some active fire in a few pockets. We'll just simplify that liability.鈥�
Parks staff will first need to conduct spring hazard tree assessment on various priority areas including popular visitation areas like trail heads, parking lots, picnic sites and benches.
Until then, winter storms and snow are expected to help to extinguish hot spots where smoke plumes continue to billow upward. That smoke may be visible from Highway 16 until the wildfire receives a significant amount of rain or snow (of at least 25 millimetres). Since Monday, the area received less than one millimetre of rain.
The winter weather will also help to take down many scorched and weakened trees that still remain.
A Parks Canada crew and helicopter patrolled the wildfire area over the long weekend to keep an eye on the smouldering western front. Fire crews are expected to monitor it regularly until it can be declared extinguished.
The Jasper Airstrip, first expected to reopen on Oct. 4, finally overcame the closure on Oct. 7. While it is no longer under a NOTAM airspace restriction, normal Canadian Aviation Airspace Restrictions still apply over the Chetamon Wildfire.
As well, drones are not allowed as they are illegal and dangerous. To date, five drone-related incidents have resulted in charges, each carrying a maximum fine of $25,000.
The public can expect to receive Chetamon wildfire updates on Tuesdays and Thursdays going forward, while additional updates will only be issued if the fire situation evolves.
The Jasper airstrip is no longer under a NOTAM airspace restriction. Normal Canadian Aviation Airspace Restrictions still apply over the Chetamon Wildfire.
Edson wildfire update
The Edson Forest Area鈥檚 96th wildfire was detected on Oct. 9 and is already classified as being held. Located 45 kilometres east-southeast of Edson on the edge of a body of water, EWF096 is estimated to be 5.9 hectares in size. There are currently nine firefighters and one helicopter with a water bucket assisting with wildfire control on the incident. The fire is currently under investigation.
Neither EWF096 nor EWF075 鈥� the under-control wildfire located approximately 24 kilometres southwest of Grande Cache 鈥� pose any threat to any community. The wildfire danger in the Edson Forest Area remains 鈥渉igh鈥� overall and 鈥渧ery high鈥� in the eastern portion.
The public can view all of the province鈥檚 wildfires (with detailed information on each) by visiting the Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard website.
People are also reminded to be responsible recreationalists by fully extinguishing their campfires and responsibly disposing of flammable materials such as cigarette butts. If anyone sees smoke or flame and suspects it's a wildfire, they must call 310-FIRE.
