Penhold volunteer firefighters headed up with their chief to join the Alpha crew waging war with the wildfires near Nordegg after more than 100 residents were forced to evacuate. The first wave of five Penhold members reported for duty at 10 a.m.
Penhold volunteer firefighters headed up with their chief to join the Alpha crew waging war with the wildfires near Nordegg after more than 100 residents were forced to evacuate.
The first wave of five Penhold members reported for duty at 10 a.m. May 14 with more than 15 ready to help conquer the fire throughout the week if necessary.
"We're sitting on the front line," said Jim Pendergast, Penhold’s fire chief, from his cellphone after arriving on location. "We're 150 metres from the leading edge of the fire."
The team was ordered to protect the Brazeau Collieries coal mine, named a National Historic Site in 2002.
"We're sitting up here at their old mine site ready to protect the mine," he said. "It's almost impossible to put out coal fires."
Three separate crews on the ground took a defensive approach to combating the blaze while six helicopters continued their air assault, dropping water from buckets on the fire.
Pendergast said his firefighters were also tasked with responding to local emergencies to allow the Nordegg department to continue to tackle the forest fires and give them a break.
Penhold mayor Dennis Cooper gave kudos to the volunteer department members willing to travel two hours west to help keep Nordegg safe.
"We're very proud of our fire department for helping out our neighbours in Nordegg," he said. "Fire is a very scary thing. I just hope they're all going to be safe."
Within days of the Penhold firefighters attending the scene the Nordegg fire was proclaimed 90 per cent contained, after growing very little over the week.
Ric Henderson, Red Deer County’s assistant manager said officials managing the response had requested four firefighters from their ranks who were preparing to head west.
