© Edmonton journal
Aerial photograph of a wildfire near Lodgepole taken by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development firefighters.
Canada - As firefighters work around the clock on three forest fires burning out of control in northern Alberta, officials issued a fire ban on Monday for most forested areas in the province.
"The wildfire situation in most of Alberta is serious," said Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Minister Diana McQueen in a news release.
"Unfortunately, most of the wildfires we are fighting right now appear to be human-caused and therefore were 100 per cent preventable. It is very important that everyone take precautions to avoid starting fires - it is so dry and windy in many places that fires can start and spread very quickly."
Firefighters are trying to contain:
A 1,000-hectare blaze near the hamlet of Grassland in northeast Alberta.
A 650-hectare fire near Bonnyville in the eastern part of the province.
A fire half the size of the Bonnyville blaze, near Lodgepole, southwest of Edmonton.
The wind, along with warm, dry conditions, continue to pose the biggest challenge for firefighters, said Geoff Driscoll, a wildfire information officer.
"Certainly the one in Grassland grew the biggest yesterday, but the one near Bonnyville came out a little later in the evening and grew pretty big pretty fast," said Driscoll.
