The evacuation order for remaining County of Grande Prairie residents has been downgraded to an alert as of 11:04 a.m. Thursday. Those who live in the area of Township Road 705 and the Wapiti River, east of Spring Creek to Range Road 65 can return home, including those in the Banks of Spring Creek area. According to the Grande Prairie Regional Emergency Partnership, residents are being advised to be prepared to evacuate with 30 minutes notice if needed. While the evacuation alert in all other areas of the area has also been lifted.
In a video update released by GRPEP Thursday, County of Grande Prairie Regional Fire Chief Trevor Grant saying by the end of Thursday everyone who has been evacuated should be able to return to their home.
‘With that though, we are still actively fighting fire, all the perimeter of the fire,” Grant says. “We do have perimeters around all the residences, ensuring that the fire is not going to spread, but residents are going to see smoke within the perimeter.”
“If they do see something within about 100 meters of their home or directly on their property, please let us know by calling 9-1-1 right away.”
Grant says officials know there are still hot spots, and they are continuing to work on those by bucketing with helicopters, and working with fire crews to work on those. He adds crews will continue to do patrols and work on those hot spots in the coming days.
According to GPREP “residents are strongly advised to stay connected with official channels for any further updates.”
