Pearl Lorentzen

Lakeside Leader

On September 11, the wildfire danger was very high in the Slave Lake Forest Area. By Sept. 12, a fire advisory was in place in the forest area.

This prohibited “any outside burning without a valid fire permit, except a campfire.”

On September 14, the wildfire danger decreased to high, but the fire advisory remained in effect. By Sept. 15, it was back to very high.

The only recent wildfire was on Sunday, Sept. 10.

SWF132 was a small grass fire, says the Sept. 11 Slave Lake Wildfire Update. Industry workers in the area spotted and extinguished the fire. It only grew to 0.03 hectares (ha). This was the first new wildfire since August 11.

From January 1 to Sept. 15, the Slave Lake Forest Area had 132 wildfires, which burnt 429,009.05 ha. Of these, all but 12 were extinguished. Of the 12 active wildfires, two were held and 10 under control. The status of these fires hadn’t changed in at least a month. The newest of these was SWF116, started on July 7. It remained held at 10,670 ha.

The wildfire update says, “Being held means with the current weather conditions and resources, the wildfire is not anticipated to grow past expected boundaries.”

As of Sept. 15, the causes of the three wildfires west of Smith remains under investigation. These three (SWF085, SWF086, and SWF087) were started on May 16 near the train tracks.

All of the remaining active wildfires were caused by lightning.

Smoke in the Slave Lake area was from fires in the Northwest Territories, far away in Alberta, or in British Columbia, says www.firesmoke.ca.