MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – A wildfire that broke out northwest of Sundre in the proximity of the TAQA gas plant in Mountain View County on Saturday burned out of control for approximately seven hours before being contained by crews from multiple agencies.
As of Tuesday, the fire was still active but continued to be categorized as being held at a size of 28 hectares (69.2 acres). Given current weather conditions and resources, the wildfire was not anticipated to grow past existing boundaries.
The Sundre Fire Department initially received a report of smoke on May 3 at 12:24 p.m.
“It came in as a smoke investigation and then turned into a confirmed wildfire,” said Alex Clews, the department's deputy fire chief.
While there are instances when such reports turn out to be controlled brush or garbage pile burns, Clews nevertheless encourages people to always err on the side of caution.
“If anybody has any concerns about what they’re seeing, it’s better (to be) safe than sorry to call us.”
After all, every minute is critical in getting ahead of a wildfire that can quickly metastasize amid dry, windy conditions.
As a result of the hasty and well-coordinated response, a worst-case scenario was averted and no property or livestock were lost, said Clews.
“Sundre Fire along with Olds Fire set up our sprinkler systems around one residence just as a precaution, just to wet the area in case the fire did continue on,” he said.
“But the water bombers with the retardant ended up containing it and then the dozers went in and built a fire break.”
Sundre’s department deployed a bush truck, a water tender, a wildland trailer, as well as a side-by-side quad and a bush water tank trailer that can more readily access rugged or remote terrain.
“It’s a little trailered unit with water in it and a little pump for getting back … where a tender can’t go,” he said.
The Olds Fire Department was called upon to provide mutual aid and subsequently sent a tender and a bush buggy, with Clearwater County also sending out a tender and a structure protection unit (SPU), which is a sprinkler unit used to protect buildings, he said, adding Alberta Wildfire of course also saw the smoke and sent out crews.
“And then they deployed six dozers and a track hoe to create a fire berm,” he said, adding there were also “multiple helicopters and two water bombers that came out.”
The are the fire is in is located in the Rocky Mountain House Forest Protection Area.
Sundre’s members were kept busy for quite a while, with Alberta Wildfire requesting their assistance to keep an eye even after the fire was reported contained on Saturday night.
“A quick response from Sundre and Olds, Clearwater County and Aberta Wildfire helped contain it before it got too out of control,” he said, adding the fire burned out of control for approximately seven hours.
“We turned it over strictly to Forestry Sunday morning at approximately five,” he said, adding that with the crew change, there were approximately 15 firefighters from Sundre involved throughout the duration of the call.
“Forestry requested us to stay on scene throughout the night just make sure (the fire) didn’t jump the berm as there’s residents in the area,” he said.
The fire, which started in the proximity of a gas plant, unfolded north off of the Burntstick Lake high road and just west of Range Road 61, he said.
“The cause of the fire is still under investigation by Alberta Wildfire,” he said.
Dean Unruh, who lives south of Sundre but was travelling home on Saturday afternoon from a trip up to Bentley with his wife who is a woodworker and had set up at a craft market there, saw the smoke as they travelled back after 4 p.m. and decided to have a closer look.
“I have a natural interest in this because I’ve looked after camps in the past and I’ve been involved in emergency response plans,” said Unruh, who works for Ovintiv, formerly Encana.
“Anything to do with coordination of heavy equipment and aircraft and those sorts of things, is very interesting to me.”
The couple followed the smoke and eventually found a quiet spot along Range Road 61 to pull well over to the side to steer clear in case emergency vehicles came along.
“We drove past one farmyard that was probably within a kilometre of the fire,” he said, adding the owner along with some help was hosing down his barn as a precaution.
While the scene where they stopped was initially quiet, it before long became “a real hub of activity,” he said, adding emergency vehicles soon drove past.
“It just so happened we parked adjacent to where one of the choppers was picking up water,” he said, surmising the helicopter was drawing from the gas plant’s emergency ponds.
Over the span of a lifetime, Unruh said he has seen from a distance other responses to wildfires in places such as in B.C.
“But I have never seen the choppers up close like this,” he said. “To be that close was pretty interesting.”
While the couple were the first onlookers in that area, Unruh said there were perhaps another 10 or 12 private vehicles that eventually came out to see what was going on.
But whenever an emergency vehicle came down the road, people made sure the way was clear so responders had plenty of room pass.
“It was nice to see folks making sure that they were out of the way of first responders,” he said.
“I know a lot of people are always worried about looky-loos coming out and getting in the way of first responders,” he said.
“People have a natural desire to see, you know, when something big is happening, what’s going on, and they want to look at it.”
From what he was able to see of the operation, Unruh said he was impressed.
“It looked like a very well-organized response,” he said.
“We saw three choppers at once going back and forth with buckets,” he said.
“There was another chopper there. Maybe it was like a like a coordinator; it didn’t have a bucket and they were flying around just kind of surveying what was going on.”
As the scene became busier, Unruh said they decided to exit the area and went east on Township Road 334 just before 5 p.m.
“By that time already, there was a lineup of heavy equipment just outside the TAQA gas plant, ready to go in and do their thing to help contain the fire as well,” he said, uncertain as to whether fire departments or the company itself mustered those resources.
“I work for Ovintiv and we’ve got the same thing. You know, you mobilize a whole bunch of things because you’re trying to protect your people and your property.”
