Eleven homes have been destroyed in the Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement as wildfires continue to rage in northern Alberta.
“The roads are melted,” said Blake Desjarlais, director of public and national affairs for the Metis Settlements General Council.
Up to 80 homes are at high risk in the east part of Paddle Prairie, he said.
An out-of-control wildfire roaring towards High Level forced about 5,000 residents from their northwest Alberta homes last week as an evacuation order directed them to safety in communities hundreds of kilometres to the south.
The Chuckegg Creek wildfire is burning approximately three kilometres south of the town within Mackenzie County. The wildfire is almost 230,000 hectares.
Paddle Prairie is about 70 kilometres south of High Level.
In north-central Alberta, a cluster of out-of-control fires is forcing some out of their homes and putting others on alert for potential evacuations north of Slave Lake. The communities of Chipewyan Lakes, Wabasca and Bigstone Cree Nation are all under mandatory evacuation. Slave Lake residents have been warned they should be prepared to evacuate on short notice.
At 6 a.m. Thursday, the Chuckegg Creek fire was at the border of Paddle Prairie and moving southwest.
Officials on the ground reported that some buildings in the northeast part of the settlement were destroyed, Desjarlais said.
“There was also a conversation at the same time that the hamlet itself was in danger.”
The council is meeting with the Alberta government Thursday afternoon to ask for more relief support in the area.
“I do know there was some difficulty with some of the water bombers,” he said.
— With files from Trevor Robb
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
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