Whitecourt Fire Department dispatched to High Level

The Chuckegg Creek wildfire south of High Level was discovered on May 12, 2019 by Alberta Sustainable Resources. With extremely dry weather and high winds over the past week, the fire quickly spread to 99,250 hectares as of May 24 and is very close to the community. Approximately 4,000 people were evacuated on May 20 after a local state of emergency was issued.

This is currently the largest wildfire burning in Alberta with 261 Alberta Wildfire firefighters battling the blaze along with 28 helicopters and three air tankers and heavy ground equipment. Additional wildfire support is being brought in from Ontario, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia.

As part of the local state of emergency that was issued publicly, several municipalities were called in to assist. The Whitecourt Fire Department received a call from the Provincial Operations Centre on Sunday. Crews left for High Level at 4 a.m. Monday. The department took the pump and roll type 3 fire engine from Blue Ridge. Whitecourt’s sprinkler trailer (one of four in Alberta) and six local firefighters headed to High Level. Fire Chief Brian Wynn who’s currently in High Level said, “All Alberta’s sprinkler trailers are up here in addition to another 13 from outside sources.”

Wynn had a few moments to give a brief interview with our Press reporter on the activities occurring in High Level. “The first day we arrived, we set up sprinkler protection lines around the town. The next three days the Whitecourt fire crew were assigned to FireSmart the town. The crews have been grouped into task forces for specific areas within the town. This involved firesmarting and pre-treating houses, and cleaning debris away from homes. If residents’ water were on, we deployed their hoses and sprinklers if they were available. We looked after the residential area within our zone and spent time on the fire line.”

The local firefighters are doing fairly well under the circumstances. Conditions were not favourable with 20 hours of work the first day with no power or water at the hotels or any warm meals. Going into day two things had improved as services were restored and meals were available. “They are looking after us pretty good,” said Wynn.

The fire is nowhere near contained. Fire crews have now performed two back burns and both have gone well. Another back burn is planned for May 24 to complete one edge of the town before the winds change.

With some of our local firefighters getting dispatched to High level, Wynn said, “It reduces our total membership but the other members in the department have stepped up and are making themselves more available. It does put more pressure on them and the other county department from Blue Ridge. It’s just a matter of backing each other up and working together.”

Ritchie Wilson, Fire Chief of the Blue Ridge Department, Whitecourt Fire Chief Brian Wynn along with four Whitecourt firefighters will remain in High Level for as long as needed by the province. The four firefighters will work on a rotational basis with the chiefs staying on the front lines.