Officials from Alberta Emergency Management Agency and Alberta Wildfire will provide an update on the Alberta wildfire situation on Friday.

Changes to the province-wide fire ban that has been in effect for weeks in Alberta have changed due to rain and cooler weather which has reduced the wildfire risk in many areas.

Because the far northern tip of Alberta has received less rainfall than the south and the danger remains high, a fire ban and off-highway vehicle restrictions will remain in place in the High Level and Fort McMurray forest areas, the province said Thursday.

Restrictions will also be maintained in Yellowhead County to the west of Edmonton, where there are still active wildfires.

As of 10 a.m. Friday though, bans have been downgraded to fire restrictions across the rest of the forest protection area, which runs along Alberta’s foothills and encompasses all of the boreal forest north of Edmonton.

As of Friday morning, Alberta Wildfire reported 54 wildfires are burning across the province — 51 of which are in the forest protection area — and 15 are out of control.

That’s a decrease from Wednesday afternoon when there were 61 fires overall and 17 were out of control. The numbers keep dropping after rainy weather moved in at the end of the long weekend.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/9675857/alberta-wildfires-may-2023/

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