Evacuations follow loss as wildfire burns in Sturgeon County

Shantelle Williams and her husband were running on fumes Wednesday — that and seven hours of sleep over the four days since their historic farmstead burned up in a wildfire at Redwater River Ranch.

“Yeah, running on adrenaline,” she told Postmedia.

Extreme fire behaviour and treetop-hopping blazes led to wider evacuations of people and livestock around the Redwater Provincial Recreation Area, 60 km northeast of Edmonton on Wednesday.

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“Last night, we were up until 4:30 in the morning, loading out cows for a neighbour. The fire was only a range road away,” Williams recalled, remembering the frenzy that set in Saturday as wind whipped the blaze nearer by the minute.

“My neighbours showed up and they said, ‘What do you want me to do?’ And we just started moving animals. Everyone was pushing animals up. I didn’t even know who half of them were,” she said.

“It was 13 minutes by the time we knew we had to get animals out to the moment everything was gone,” she said.

“My mother-in-law went running into my burning house to grab the (dachshunds). We walked away with the clothes on our back.”

The home was reduced to a smoked-out chimney. The photos, the mementoes of raising their three sons, ashes.

The shop, the garage. The century barn. Chicken coops full of chickens.

All gone.

There are still a few animals missing — including a beloved furry white giant of a farm dog who was just one year old and as good a guardian as the livestock could wish for.

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“We’ve had lots of sightings of a dog, but none of them have been him,” she said.

There’s been little time to pull their world back together with flames still threatening the larger Redwater Provincial Recreation Area.

The Williams worked with neighbours to evacuate about 120 head from pastures at the neighbours and to their own St. Michaels feedlot on Tuesday and Wednesday, herding another 250 onto different pastures to cultivated land to get them out of harm’s way.

“These are all the people that showed up for us, so we can’t say no. They were there when we needed them, so we’ll be there for them,” she said.

“Until tragedy strikes, you don’t realize how cared for you are and what community can do when you just come together like this, it’s been incredible.”

The fire was reported by an off-road quad rider who called 911 on Saturday evening from out in the recreation area, said Sturgeon County Fire Chief Chad Moore.

“There was some sort of mechanical or electrical fire in the center of the quad. The rider took measures to try and extinguish it with water and sand, but unfortunately, it spread beyond and they contacted us right away. However, due to the remote nature of where they were at, by the time we got into where the quad was located, it spread beyond the quad and into the surrounding trees,” Moore said.

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(The county has since placed a ban on outdoor fires and OHV use.)

By Wednesday afternoon, the fire covered about 1,500 hectares with a 28-kilometre perimeter.

Following an evacuation alert for the Town of Redwater, the Redwater Health Centre, Diamond Spring Lodge and local schools proactively took measures to evacuate patients, residents and students from their buildings.

“Crown fire, burning across the top of the trees, is a very dangerous situation, especially when it’s driven by high wind. That’s what we saw (Tuesday),” Moore said.

Three separate retardant drops by airplanes across the front of the fire were no match for flames fanned by wind gusting up to 50 km/h, licking past fire guards, and thwarting much of the preventative work the crew had been doing.

With volatile ground fuel, high temperatures and low humidity, it was a “red flag warning day.”

“We saw this yesterday, as well as on the first night, where embers from those burning trees may fly up to a mile or two ahead of the fire and start a secondary fire ahead,” Moore said.

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“That can cause concern for firefighters (of the) fire getting behind them and burning.”

Crews were forced to pull back to protect homes and property as the fire advanced, using sprinkler systems and unmanned protection systems as well as fire crews surrounding the boundary of the fire.

As of Wednesday morning, there were about 30 frontline fire response vehicles, as well as numerous support pickups, utilities and other equipment on site, and about 175 personnel, including 140 frontline firefighters.

Some fire crews were driving around looking for spot fires and checking for escape routes and fire containment as the fire burned on Wednesday.

A reception centre for evacuees was relocated to the Morinville Leisure Centre.

A resident support help line was set up at 587-200-3068.

Sturgeon County Mayor Alanna Hnatiw said it’s been a tireless fight against some really difficult conditions.

“Certainly there’s been devastation that we know will last generations around here, and our heart does go to the residents who’ve been affected,” Hnatiw said.

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Although no volunteers or donations were needed as of Wednesday, the generosity and offers to help have been “incredibly heartwarming,” she said.

“I’m sure it helps folks who are currently away from their homes to know that the community’s got their back, both today and in the future,” she said.

“Right now, our focus is on supporting the firefighters who are doing everything within their human power to be able to keep as many people safe as possible. And that is first and foremost what our focus is.”

jcarmichael@postmedia.com

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