Trudeau to meet with troops in Alberta as battle against wildfires rages on | CBC News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in Edmonton Monday to meet with Canadian Armed Forces personnel who are helping fight wildfires burning across Alberta.

Trudeau is expected to meet with military officials around 11 a.m. MT. 

Soldiers began fanning out across the province last week after the province requested military aid in contending with the wildfire emergency.

About 300 military members have been deployed to Grande Prairie, Drayton Valley and Fox Creek, joining firefighters on the front lines of an unprecedented wildfire season. 

Thousands of people have been forced from their homes and pushed Alberta’s wildfire resources to their limit. On May 6, the province declared a state of emergency.

As of Monday, 96 wildfires were burning across the province, both inside and outside Alberta’s forest protection areas. Of the 90 wildfires burning inside those areas, 23 are classified as out of control. 

The number of evacuees in Alberta grew to more than 19,300 on Sunday. 

To date this year, more than 465 wildfires have burned across Alberta, consuming nearly 532,000 hectares of forest and destroying hundreds of homes, plus businesses and critical infrastructure.

Emergency officials are warning the natural disaster will continue to escalate. The heat has been unrelenting in recent days and there is no rain in the forecast.

“Our peak burning period, which is when the temperatures are at their highest and the fuels are at their driest, is still in front of us,” wildfire information officer Josee St-Onge said during Sunday’s wildfire update.

“We are using all of the resources at our disposal to fight these wildfires and keep people in communities safe.”

Much of northern and central Alberta remains under heat warnings. Special air quality statements are in effect due to wildfire smoke.

Rising temperatures that have been a problem for crews battling wildfires in the province’s north are now also a concern in Alberta’s south.

St-Onge cautioned Sunday that conditions in the south aren’t as extreme at the moment, but the province may need to reposition resources so it can be ready to respond quickly to new fires.

“These are trying times. And the coming days may be quite difficult,” she said.

The latest round of evacuation orders came late Sunday evening, for the remote northern community of Chipewyan Lake, home to around 80 residents.

Around 772 residents of Chateh, Alta were ordered to evacuate. 

Chateh, northwest of High Level, is part of the Dene Tha’ First Nation, which also includes the communities of Bushe River and Meander River.

At this time last year, Chateh residents were fleeing their homes due to widespread flooding.

‘We’re surrounded’ 

In High Prairie, Alta., Mayor Brian Panasiuk said residents have grown accustomed to watching the skies for smoke, a telltale sign of possible flare-ups.

“The flare-ups, they come quick and start the fire moving again,” he said. “If the winds shift, it can move quickly.”

It’s an anxious time for the northern Alberta town. As evacuees from surrounding communities trickle in, residents have been preparing for the possibility that they too might be forced to leave.

The town has been on evacuation alert for 10 days.

Fires are burning throughout the surrounding area, including one about seven kilometres from town limits. The closest fire to High Prairie is to the south, but there are also large fires to the north, and fires to the east, Panasiuk said.

“We’re surrounded,” he said Sunday. “They’re getting close to us and that’s our big concern … We’re very fortunate that they’ve been kept away.” 

Use the slider below to see the extent of the fire damage to the area north of Lobstick and west of Wildwood.