Firefighters and apparatuses from Mountain View County-area municipalities have been assisting with the Chuckegg Creek wildfire near High Level.
The fire has spread to almost 100,000 hectares and is approximately three kilometres outside of High Level. Fighting the fire are more than 150 firefighters from around the province and from B.C. Approximately 5,000 residents of High Level have been evacuated.
The first group of Mountain View County firefighters went up on May 20 and returned on May 24. That contingent included Cremona fire Chief Kevin Miller, lieutenant Mark Myra, Richie Baur, Dexter Hahn and Alec Hill, and two from Carstairs, Jeff Victoria and Karl Poculan.
"They all went up together on Monday (May 20) and took three apparatus with them," said Jordan Schaffer, Carstairs fire chief. "It took them 11 hours to get up there. They were setting up sprinkler lines for protection. They also did a back burn of about 5,000 hectares."
As far as apparatuses go, Carstairs sent a water hauler, while Cremona sent an engine and a support vehicle, said Schaffer.
"They've been putting in long hours," he said. "Probably around 12 to 14 hours a day just doing a lot of preventive maintenance. Everything is going good. They have not seen any fire directly. They're on the outskirts."
The defensive lines set up by forestry and the municipal fire departments have been doing their job and protecting the Town of High Level from what he has been told, he said.
That first contingent of firefighters returned on May 24 after finishing their four-day stint. A second crew went up that day with two firefighters each from Carstairs and Didsbury and several from Olds.
There is expected to be another crew change on May 28, he said.
John Newbery, deputy chief for Cremona and District Emergency Services, said Mackenzie County near High Level put out the call for firefighter help from throughout Alberta.
"We're up there to help deal with assets rather than trees," said Newbery. "They're up there pre-planning and setting up a defensive network for protection. Setting up sprinklers on top of homes and that type of thing."
Newbery said the five fire departments in Mountain View County work well together to coordinate these types of events.
"We pool our assets and see what we can send," he said.
Justin Andrew, Olds' fire chief, said that additional manpower will be drawn on with four- to six-day rotations for these seven positions from all five Mountain View County departments over the total requested deployment period of 14 days.
"This collaborative approach taken by the five fire departments of Mountain View County allows the ability to draw from a large equipment and labour pool with over 90 of the 160 volunteer firefighters trained and experienced in accountability and wildland urban interface structural protection," said Andrew.
"This fleet and organizational structure familiarity is essential in establishing familiar and safe firefighting task groups made up of personnel drawn from five different fire stations."
Andrew added that back home in the county there are assurance protocols in place to assist any community that may have an impacted resource complement as a result of the deployment.
