Story by The Canadian Press • june 12 4:17 PM
EDMONTON — A wildfire that forced the evacuation of a town west of Edmonton continues to menace the community with crews also battling heavy, vision-obscuring smoke.
Edson Mayor Kevin Zahara said the fire remains within 1.5 kilometres of his town’s southern edge.
“If it does flare up, we don’t have a lot of opportunity or a lot of time (to react),” Zahara said Monday in an online video update.
“It is still very dangerous.”
The evacuation order remains in place for Edson and for adjoining sections of Yellowhead County and won’t be reassessed until Wednesday at the earliest.
Various roads and highways remain closed.
“The risk for this fire moving in different directions in the next two days is extreme,” said Luc Mercier, the chief administrative officer of Yellowhead County.
He said almost 500 crews, on the ground and in the air with helicopters and water bombers, are fighting the flames.
The 8,400 residents of Edson, 200 kilometres west of Edmonton, were forced to flee Friday after flames jumped fireguards.
Christine Beveridge, Edson’s chief administrative officer, said some residents are returning despite the evacuation order.
Beveridge urged those returnees to leave, saying they are making the situation worse for crews trying to focus on the blaze.
“We have had a lot of people come back to the community in the last couple of days,” said Beveridge.