It's going to take some time before people will be allowed back into Slave Lake, Alberta to see if their homes survived a wildfire.
Two forest fires are still burning near the town -- where flames from one fire have destroyed about a third of the community and heavy smoke still hangs in the air.
Crews are assessing the damage, working to restore basic services and continuing to flush the town's contaminated water system.
(The Canadian Press)
Red Earth Creek is battling to save it's community - it's been under a mandatory evacuation alert since the weekend when a wild fire came right to the edge of their community. Two residences and several outbuildings were lost. There are now two fires - one to the north and one to the south. The community's nine volunteer firefighters are working around the clock to make sure their town stays safe. About 30 forestry workers are helping them. The residents were evacuated to Misery Mountain near Peace River.
@wondering As of this afternoon, here are the evacuation orders that have been issued. There are mandatory evacuation orders in place for Loon Lake, Red Earth Creek, and parts of the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River including Wagner, Widewater, Canyon Creek, Assineau, and the Poplar Lane Subdivision east of Slave Lake. The Municipal District of Northern Sunrise has issued evacuation advisories for Little Buffalo and Martin Lake.
Snowandmud will have a donation area from 6:00-9:00 pm today and 5:00-9:00 pm tomorrow at Home Depot on 17th street and Whitemud. Donations of money and toiletries, etc will be accepted.
There are 98 active wildfires in Alberta tonight. Of those, 33 are out of control and 18 out of 98 are new in the last 24 hours.
The structural fires inside Slave Lake are now reportedly under control. The three wildfires that caused the damage have moved on from the town site, and are still out of control.
Current mandatory evacuation orders include:
Loon River
Lesser Slave Lake
Woodland Cree First Nation