Hundreds of firefighters continued to battle dozens of wildfires across Alberta on Wednesday, as evacuees from Slave Lake waited to find out whether their homes survived the fire that destroyed much of the town. About 100 fires were raging across the province as of the last update from the Alberta government on 10 a.m. Tuesday. Twenty-three were considered out of control.
With about 100,000 hectares scorched already, help is arriving from outside the province, including 85 firefighters from Ontario who landed at Edmonton's airport Tuesday, including Jason Ingleton.
"I'm just looking forward to going wherever they can send me," he said. "Wherever I can be the most help is where I'd like to go."
Two-hundred more firefighters are expected to arrive later Wednesday from British Columbia. In all, about 400 firefighters from British Columbia and Ontario are joining more than 1,000 Alberta firefighters already on the ground. (read more)
