Out-of-control wildfire west of Edmonton forces evacuation

An out-of-control wildfire has forced the evacuation of some residents living between Evansburg and Wildwood in Yellowhead County, just west of Edmonton.

The evacuation alert issued Tuesday affectsresidents along Highway 16, west ofHighway 22 up to Highway 16A.

As of 8:30 p.m. MT, thefire covered an area of about 125hectares in the Edson Forest Area. The fire wasnine kilometres northwest of Evansburg and moving south.

The wildfire had crossed the Lobstick River but not Highway 16 as of 10:30 p.m. MT.

The fire was first noticed at 4 p.m. when it was just two hectares in size.

There are currently 30 firefighters, fourhelicopters, sixpieces of heavy equipment and sixair tankersinvolved infighting the fire.

Residents of the Lobstickresort areaalso being evacuated with an evacuation centrebeing set up at the Evansburg Arena in Evansburg.

"Fire activity has slowed down, but the fire is still classified as out-of-control," said Josee St-Onge, a provincial information officer with the Wildfire Management Branch in an email at 10:45 p.m.

"The airtankers are done flying for the evening and additional airtankers are available if required tomorrow. Additional heavy equipment has also arrived on scene to help fight this wildfire.

"They will continue working through the night on building a containment lines to surround the wildfire. Firefighters will work late into the evening and return early in the morning."