Update 11: Northwest Alberta wildfires (June 1 at 6:30 p.m.)

Todayville

Published

6 years ago

15 minute read

June 01, 2019

Additional 12,000 residents placed on evacuation alert.

These residents are encouraged to gather medications, identification and belongings, and make plans for pets and livestock in case an evacuation order is issued.

Current situation

New evacuation alert in place for:

Approximately 12,000 residents in Mackenzie County, north of Peace River to Township Road 110, west of Range Road 120, and east of Highway 35 south of High Level; and south of Peace River to Township Road 1040, west of Range Road 120 and east of Steep Hill Creek should be prepared to evacuate on short notice.

The following communities remain on eight-hour evacuation alert:

Town of Slave Lake
MD of Lesser Slave Lake, including Old Smith Highway, Mitsue, Poplar Lane, Fawcett Lake, Eben Road and Bayer Road
Peerless Lake area of Peerless Trout First Nation

Mandatory evacuations remain in place for:

Town of High Level and Mackenzie County areas south/southeast of town
Dene Tha’ First Nation communities of Bushe River, Meander River and Chateh
Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement
Keg River, Carcajou, and all residents from the northern border of the County of Northern Lights to Township Road 922 (Notikewin Road)
- Bigstone Cree Nation
  - Wabasca No. 166
- Parts of the MD of Opportunity No. 17
- Hamlet of Wabasca – Desmarais
- Hamlet of Sandy Lake
- Chipewyan Lake Village
Steen River
The Trout Lake area of Peerless Trout First Nation
MD of Lesser Slave River
- Hamlet of Marten Beach
Chuckegg Creek wildfire, southwest of High Level, is about 280,000 hectares.
Jackpot Creek wildfire, approximately 11 km north of Lutose, is about 24,700 hectares.
McMillan Wildfire Complex, southwest of Bigstone Cree Nation, is more than 212,386 hectares.
Battle Wildfire Complex in Peace River is about 53,900 hectares.
Provincial resources on the ground include more than 2,300 wildland and structural firefighters and staff, approximately 228 helicopters and 28 air tankers and heavy equipment.
Residents should check Alberta Emergency Alerts for more detailed and frequently updated information.
Approximately 11,000 people have been evacuated.
AHS has evacuated 19 patients from the Manning Community Health Centre as a precaution due to smoke concerns and approximately 37 patients from a hospital in Fort Vermillion.
People driving in fire-affected areas should carry enough fuel, as it may not be readily available.

Visit emergency.alberta.ca for detailed and frequently updated information.

Air quality

Smoke is causing poor air quality and reducing visibility.
Much of northern Alberta is under a special air quality statement.
Individuals may experience symptoms, such as increased coughing, throat irritation, headaches or shortness of breath. Children, seniors and those with cardiovascular or lung disease, such as asthma, are especially at risk.
If you experience breathing difficulties, find an indoor place that’s cool and ventilated.
Alberta Wildfire recommends checking FireSmoke.ca to find out where the smoke is coming from.

Financial supports

Evacuees should check alberta.ca/emergency for updates on evacuation payment eligibility.
Evacuees in need of financial assistance for immediate needs can apply for an Income Support program emergency needs allowance. This benefit may cover your accommodation, clothing and other urgent needs. Please call 1-877-644-9992 for more information.
You may qualify for the evacuation payment if you were:
- living, working or vacationing in the affected area
- forced to leave due to an evacuation order
- forced to leave your residence (primary, working or vacationing) due to a mandatory evacuation order – current communities include:
  - High Level
  - Paddle Prairie
  - Bushe River
  - Chateh
  - Meander River
- paid for most of your costs to evacuate
Albertans who qualify will receive $1,250 and $500 for each dependent child under 18 living in the same home when the evacuation order was given.
Applications methods:
Apply online through the MyAlberta Evacuation Payment application using a smart phone, device or desktop. Interac e-transfers may take 24 hours to process.
Apply in–person at any Alberta Supports Centre.
Before going to an Alberta Supports Centre, please check the status of the area to ensure it is safe.
If you are visiting an Alberta Support Centre, please bring:
- Photo identification
- Proof of residence or presence in the community
- Identification for partner/spouse and/or dependents children if claiming for them
If you have questions contact Alberta Supports: 1-877-644-9992.
More than 6,600 individuals have received evacuee support, and more than $6.8 million has been distributed.

Reception and call centres

Reception centres are open at:
- Slave Lake Legacy Centre (400 6 Avenue NE)
- High Prairie Gordon Buchanan Centre (5413 49 Street)
- Grande Prairie Regional College (10726 106 Avenue)
- Peace River Misery Mountain Ski Hill (10408 89 Street)
- La Crete Heritage Centre (25411 Township Road 1060, south of La Crete)
- Fort Vermilion Community Cultural Complex (5001 44 Avenue)
- Dene Wellness Centre (In K’atl’ Odeeche First Nation, 17 kilometres east of Hay River)
- Calling Lake Recreation Centre (2870 Central Drive)
- Back Lakes Arena (249 Red Earth)
Evacuation reception centre hours can be found at emergency.alberta.ca.
Government’s call centre at 310-4455 will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Highway updates

To stay informed on all road closures due to the wildfires, visit 511.Alberta.ca or download the mobile app.
Highway 35 from High Level to the Northwest Territories border is open at this time. Emergency management officials are monitoring highway and wildfire conditions closely. Authorities may close the highway without warning if conditions change.
The following highways are closed:
- Highway 35, south of High Level to Township Road 922 near Manning.
- Highway 692 near Hawk Hills.
- Highway 695, East and West, including Keg River.
- Highway 697, from Highway 35 to Range Road 185, west of La Crete.
- Highway 58, from High Level to approximately 90 km west of High Level.
- Highway 754 from Highway 88 to Wabasca.
The La Crete Ferry is closed.

Insurance information

Evacuees should retain all of their receipts for food, accommodation and other related expenses to provide to their insurer.
Most home and tenant insurance policies provide coverage for living expenses during an evacuation.
Albertans can contact the Insurance Bureau of Canada at 1-844-227-5422 or by email at [email protected]. Information about insurance coverage is available online at ibc.ca/ab/disaster/alberta-wildfire.

Justice and legal matters

All High Level, Fort Vermillion and Chateh court matters will be heard in Peace River. Call the Peace River court at 780-624-6256 for inquiries on matters scheduled for this week and next. Matters will be held by phone, if necessary, but you must register to do so.
In many cases, tickets can be paid online. For any other inquiries requiring direction from the court about Peace River and High Level court matters, call the Peace River court at 780-624-6256.
If you have an appointment with a probation officer in an evacuated area, report to the community corrections office nearest you. Please call 780-427-3109 (to call toll free, first dial 310-0000) for information.
If you are an intermittent server in an evacuated area, call the Peace River Correctional Centre at 780-624-5480 (to call toll-free, first dial 310-0000).

Education

School officials in fire-impacted areas will address the impacts of disruption on the academic program and school year. Students or their guardians should watch for online or direct communications from local school authorities about specific changes.

Provincial park closures

Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park, Twin Lakes Provincial Recreation Area, Moose Lake Provincial Park and Notikewin Provincial Park are closed.
Calling Lake Provincial Park campground is closed to accommodate evacuees from the M.D. of Opportunity. Any campground reservations will be refunded. The boat launch is available for public day use, including for anglers participating in the fishing season starting June 1.

Boil water advisory

Boil water advisories remain in place for Meander River (Dene Tha’ First Nation) and North Tall Cree (Little Red River Cree Nation). Although power has been restored, the boil water advisories will remain in place until water testing is complete.

Health

Mental health support is available by calling Alberta’s 24-hour help line at 1-877-303-2642.
Alberta Health Services is providing support to the reception centres. These supports include addiction and mental health, Indigenous health liaisons, nursing, emergency medical services, public health and home care.

Pets and livestock

High Level animal control has collected household pets that have been left behind. For questions regarding your pets, please call 780-926-2201.
For evacuees in the Wabasca area, please fill out an online form on the Alberta Animal Disaster Response Facebook group, or text 403-869-4964 and provide your name, contact number, number of animals missing, where they were last seen, and a brief description of your pet.
The County of Northern lights will allow residents to enter property to look after livestock between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Residents must first go to the County Office to register for the temporary access pass.

Electricity and Natural Gas Billing

High Level and area residential, farm, irrigation and small commercial electricity and natural gas customers affected by the evacuation will not be billed for the period covered by the order.

Donations and volunteers

High Level is not accepting donations or volunteers at this time.
The Town of Slave Lake has set up an online form for offers.
Check the Mackenzie County Facebook page for an up-to-date list of donations needed and drop-off locations.

Canada Post

Mail service has been suspended in:

High Level, Meander River, Chateh, Paddle Prairie, Keg River
- High Level evacuees can pick up mail from the Slave Lake Post Office
- Chateh evacuees can pick up mail at the Fort Vermilion Post Office
- Meander River evacuees can pick up mail at the La Crete Post Office

Mail service has been restored in:

Fort Vermilion, La Crete, Rainbow Lake, Zama City

If you require urgent access to critical items, such as medications and passports, please call 1-800-267-1177. You may be able to arrange for pick up at the Slave Lake Post Office (100 2 Street NE).

Mail will be held at the Edmonton depot until mail service resumes.

Check the Canada Post website for updates.

Income Support, Alberta Supports and AISH

Evacuees receiving the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped or the Income Support program by cheque rather than electronic deposit can pick up their cheque at their nearest Alberta Supports Centres.
If you are in La Crete, you can pick up your cheque at the local reception centre. If you receive your benefits via direct deposit, your payment will be deposited as usual.
For information on child intervention and child care, call 1-800-638-0715.
Persons with developmental disabilities, their families or contracted service providers can call the nearest Alberta Supports Centre for assistance.
For additional information on social benefits, or to find a list of Alberta Supports Centres, call 1-877-644-9992 province-wide between 7:30 a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Employment insurance: evacuees can visit Service Canada online to apply at www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei.html. Use code 4812014812201900.

Health card, driver’s licences, ID cards, birth certificate

To get a replacement Health Care Insurance Card call 780-427-1432 or toll free at 310-0000 and then 780-427-1432 when prompted. Your Alberta Personal Health Card can be mailed to a temporary address.
If driver’s licences, identification cards, and/or birth certificates were left behind during the evacuation, replacement cards and certificates can be ordered free of charge at a registry agent.

Public information

You can call 310-4455 for more information.

Related information

Related Topics:Chuckegg Creek Wildfire feature

Up Next

Update 12: NW AB Fires 6:30 pm, June 2 – Re-entry plans announced for northwest Alberta communities.

Don't Miss

Air quality advisory for Red Deer and Central Alberta

Todayville

Todayville is a digital media and technology company. We profile unique stories and events in our community. Register and promote your community event for free.

Follow Author

Some scientists advocate creating human bodies for ‘spare parts.’

International / 6 hours ago

Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ defense shield must be built now, Lt. Gen. warns

Alberta / 9 hours ago

The beauty of economic corridors: Inside Alberta’s work to link products with new markets

Published on April 1, 2025

Todayville

From the Canadian Energy Centre

Q&A with Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transport and Economic Corridors

Devin Dreeshen, Alberta’s Minister of Transportation

and Economic Corridors.

CEC: How have recent developments impacted Alberta’s ability to expand trade routes and access new markets for energy and natural resources?

Dreeshen: With the U.S. trade dispute going on right now, it’s great to see that other provinces and the federal government are taking an interest in our east, west and northern trade routes, something that we in Alberta have been advocating for a long time.

We signed agreements with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to have an economic corridor to stretch across the prairies, as well as a recent agreement with the Northwest Territories to go north. With the leadership of Premier Danielle Smith, she’s been working on a BC, prairie and three northern territories economic corridor agreement with pretty much the entire western and northern block of Canada.

There has been a tremendous amount of work trying to get Alberta products to market and to make sure we can build big projects in Canada again.

CEC: Which infrastructure projects, whether pipeline, rail or port expansions, do you see as the most viable for improving Alberta’s global market access?

Dreeshen: We look at everything. Obviously, pipelines are the safest way to transport oil and gas, but also rail is part of the mix of getting over four million barrels per day to markets around the world.

The beauty of economic corridors is that it’s a swath of land that can have any type of utility in it, whether it be a roadway, railway, pipeline or a utility line. When you have all the environmental permits that are approved in a timely manner, and you have that designated swath of land, it politically de-risks any type of project.

CEC: A key focus of your ministry has been expanding trade corridors, including an agreement with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to explore access to Hudson’s Bay. Is there any interest from industry in developing this corridor further?

Dreeshen: There’s been lots of talk [about] Hudson Bay, a trade corridor with rail and port access. We’ve seen some improvements to go to Churchill, but also an interest in the Nelson River.

We’re starting to see more confidence in the private sector and industry wanting to build these projects. It’s great that governments can get together and work on a common goal to build things here in Canada.

CEC: What is your vision for Alberta’s future as a leader in global trade, and how do economic corridors fit into that strategy?

Dreeshen: Premier Smith has talked about C-69 being repealed by the federal government [and] the reversal of the West Coast tanker ban, which targets Alberta energy going west out of the Pacific.

There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on the federal side. Alberta has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to economic corridors.

We’ve asked the federal government if they could develop an economic corridor agency. We want to make sure that the federal government can come to the table, work with provinces [and] work with First Nations across this country to make sure that we can see these projects being built again here in Canada.

2025 Federal Election

The High Cost Of Continued Western Canadian Alienation

Published on March 30, 2025

Todayville

From EnergyNow.Ca

By Jim Warren

Energy Issues Carney Must Commit to if He Truly Cares About National Cohesion and be Different From Trudeau

If the stars fail to align in the majority of Western Canada’s favour and voters from Central Canada and the Maritimes re-elect a Liberal government on April 28, it will stand as a tragic rejection of the aspirations of the oil producing provinces and a threat to national cohesion.

As of today Mark Carney has not clearly and unequivocally promised to tear down the Liberal policy wall blocking growth in oil and gas exports. Yes, he recently claimed to favour energy corridors, but just two weeks earlier he backtracked on a similar commitment.

There are some promises Carney hopefully won’t honour. He has pledged to impose punitive emissions taxes on Canadian industry. But that’s supposedly alright because Carney has liberally sprinkled that promise with pixie dust. This will magically ensure any associated increases in the cost of living will disappear. Liberal wizardry will similarly vaporize any harm Carbon Tax 2.0 might do to the competitive capacity of Canadian exporters.

Carney has as also promised to impose border taxes on imports from countries that lack the Liberals’ zeal for saving the planet. These are not supposed to raise Canadians’ cost of living by much, but if they do we can take pride in doing our part to save the planet. We can feel good about ourselves while shopping for groceries we can’t afford to buy.

There is ample bad news in what Carney has promised to do. No less disturbing is what he has not agreed to do. Oil and gas sector leaders have been telling Carney what needs to be done, but that doesn’t mean he’s been listening.

The Build Canada Now action plan announced last week by western energy industry leaders lays out a concise five-point plan for growing the oil and gas sector. If Mark Carney wants to convince his more skeptical detractors that he is truly concerned about Canadian prosperity, he should consider getting a tattoo that celebrates the five points.

Yet, if he got onside with the five points and could be trusted, would it not be a step in the right direction? Sure, but it would also be great if unicorns were real.

The purpose of the Build Canada Now action plan couldn’t be much more clearly and concisely stated. “For the oil and natural gas sector to expand and energy infrastructure to be built, Canada’s federal political leaders can create an environment that will:

1. Simplify regulation. The federal government’s Impact Assessment Act and West Coast tanker ban are impeding development and need to be overhauled and simplified. Regulatory processes need to be streamlined, and decisions need to withstand judicial challenges.

2. Commit to firm deadlines for project approvals. The federal government needs to reduce regulatory timelines so that major projects are approved within 6 months of application.

3. Grow production. The federal government’s unlegislated cap on emissions must be eliminated to allow the sector to reach its full potential.

4. Attract investment. The federal carbon levy on large emitters is not globally cost competitive and should be repealed to allow provincial governments to set more suitable carbon regulations.

5. Incent Indigenous co-investment opportunities. The federal government needs to provide Indigenous loan guarantees at scale so industry may create infrastructure ownership opportunities to increase prosperity for communities and to ensure that Indigenous communities benefit from development.”

As they say the devil is often in the details. But it would be an error to complicate the message with too much detail in the context of an election campaign. We want to avoid sacrificing the good on behalf of the perfect. The plan needs to be readily understandable to voters and the media. We live in the age of the ten second sound bite so the plan has to be something that can be communicated succinctly.

Nevertheless, there is much more to be done. If Carney hopes to feel welcome in large sections of the west he needs to back away from many of promises he’s already made. And there are many Liberal policies besides Bill C-69 and C-48 that need to be rescinded or significantly modified.

Liberal imposed limitations on free speech have to go. In a free society publicizing the improvements oil and gas companies are making on behalf of environmental protection should not be a crime.

There is a morass of emissions reduction regulations, mandates, targets and deadlines that need to be rethought and/or rescinded. These include measures like the emissions cap, the clean electricity standard, EV mandates and carbon taxes. Similarly, plans for imposing restrictions on industries besides oil and gas, such as agriculture, need to be dropped. These include mandatory reductions in the use of nitrogen fertilizer and attacks (thus far only rhetorical) on cattle ranching.

A good starting point for addressing these issues would be meaningful federal-provincial negotiations. But that won’t work if the Liberals allow Quebec to veto energy projects that are in the national interest. If Quebec insists on being obstructive, the producing provinces in the west will insist that its equalization welfare be reduced or cancelled.

Virtually all of the Liberal policy measures noted above are inflationary and reduce the profitability and competitive capacity of our exporters. Adding to Canada’s already high cost of living on behalf of overly zealous, unachievable emissions reduction goals is unnecessary as well as socially unacceptable.

We probably all have our own policy change preferences. One of my personal favourites would require the federal government to cease funding environmental organizations that disrupt energy projects with unlawful protests and file frivolous slap suits to block pipelines.

Admittedly, it is a rare thing to have all of one’s policy preferences satisfied in a democracy. And it is wise to stick to a short wish list during a federal election campaign. Putting some of the foregoing issues on the back burner is okay provided we don’t forget them there.

But what if few or any of the oil and gas producing provinces’ demands are accepted by Carney and he still manages to become prime minister?

We are currently confronted by a dangerous level of geopolitical uncertainty. The prospects of a global trade war and its effects on an export-reliant country like Canada are daunting to say the least.

Dividing the country further by once again stifling the legitimate aspirations of the majority of people in Alberta and Saskatchewan will not be helpful. (I could add voters from the northeast and interior of B.C., and southwestern Manitoba to the club of the seriously disgruntled.)