The Fire Danger Rating for the Wood Buffalo National Park has dropped from Very High to High. There are currently 113 personnel and 11 helicopters working in the area.
As of today at 10:00 a.m. MT, the Pine Lake Road closure was revised to begin at the Salt River bridge along the park boundary line and continue to Peace Point. The closure includes Salt River Day-Use Area and all trails in the area as well as the Pine Lake Area.
An Area Closure was put in place on July 30 for the Salt Plains area and includes the Salt Plains Access Road, Salt Plains Day Use Area, trails in the area and the Whooping Crane Roadside Pullout. These closures are in place due to wildfires in the area and will give fire personnel the space to safely conduct operations as needed.
Smoky skies created extremely poor visibility yesterday, which grounded most helicopters for the day. Smoke cover and lower temperatures led to much lower fire behaviour than previous days and there was no significant growth on any fires in the park. One crew and one helicopter are continuing to assist NWT Fire with values protection work on fires to the north of Fort Smith.
Yesterday, fire personnel in the Pine Lake Complex focused on strategic planning for limiting the spread of Fire 7 on its northwestern and northeastern edges. The northwestern edge of Fire 7 remains approximately 4.5 km from Highway 5 at this time, and 25 km from Fort Smith. There is no current risk to the Town of Fort Smith or surrounding areas from this wildfire.
Though poor visibility effected aerial and dozer operations yesterday, crews and designated tree fallers continued work in the Pine Lake area on danger trees and extinguishing hot spots.
