Eleven active wildfires in Alberta

The number of active wildfires in the province is up to eleven.

Duncan MacDonnell with Environment and Sustainable Resource Development said only one of the fires is listed as out of control, located in the Slave Lake area.

So far this year, close to 13,000 hectares of land have been scorched by 827 wildfires.

MacDonnell said the figure is in line with previous years.

“Any given year, we’ll have about 1,500 wildfires, that’s a nice general average,” he said. “We’re about halfway through the season, looking like if it doubles, we’d be over 1,600. That would be a typical fire year.

The fire which produced some hazy and smoky conditions in Calgary on the border between Rocky Mountain House and Banff is under control.

“We’re holding it, we’re letting it burn into areas that needed to be burned and lots of crews, lots of people there,” MacDonnell said.

The province said the area was designated for a control burn, so Mother Nature took matters into her own hands.

Firefighters don’t have a problem with the ongoing hot and dry weather, as long as the wind doesn’t blow or thunderstorms bubble up.

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