Alberta waits for news on trapped wildland firefighters

EDMONTON – Hundreds of Alberta wildland firefighters are waiting to hear if 16 colleagues trapped by flames overnight have been rescued.

Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen posted a message on social media last night (Thursday), that 16 firefighters were trapped and taking shelter while fighting the blaze at Chipewyan Lake, about 450 kilometres north of Edmonton.

Contact with the crews was lost just after 8 p.m., but they were known to have taken shelter at a fire station and school. A plan was made to extract all 16 personnel using NVIS (night vision), though earlier attempts were limited by heavy smoke.

“Today, our members are on the front lines fighting 51 wildfires, with 28 listed as out of control,” says James Gault, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE). “We are proud of the work these members do every day, but it’s at times like this that workers are recognized as heroes.

“Many more of our members are working with more than 1,500 frightened Albertans who have been evacuated from their homes, ensuring their needs are met until it’s safe for them to go home.”

He adds: “Evacuating your home is terrifying, confusing and chaotic. When these families arrive at evacuation centres, they rely on government workers to get them the support and services they desperately need.”

Wildland firefighters are also doing all they can to protect oil-sands operations threatened by fires. Flames are reported to be within 20 kilometres of about 200,000 barrels of daily oil production.

So far this year, wildland firefighters have extinguished 413 fires, while more than 100,000 hectares have burned, double the figure on the government wildfire dashboard yesterday.

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AUPE Vice-President James Gault is available for interviews.

To arrange an interview, contact Terry Inigo-Jones, Communications Officer, at [email protected].