Massive Chuckegg Creek wildfire now 60 per cent contained, province says

The massive Chuckegg Creek wildfire in northern Alberta is now considered to be 60 per cent contained, says Alberta Wildfire information officerTravis Fairweather.

"It's certainly good news," Fairweather told CBC on Tuesday. "There's still a lot of work to be done on the ground, and it'll be quite a while before this fire can be classified under control."

Contained refers to how much fireguard has been built in the area around the wildfire, he said.

Temperatures in the regionwere lower over the weekend, below 20 C, and that combined with light winds allowed fire crews to concentrate on containment, Fairweathersaid.

Trees around most of the fire perimeterhave been removed, so if the wildfire moves toward the firebreaks it won't have fuel, he said.

A lot of area still burning

"It doesn't necessarily refer to the fire being 60 per cent out," Fairweather said. "There's still a lot of area within the fire perimeter that would still be burning and would still require a lot of hard work from our crews moving forward."

The fire can burn six feet underground, so crews will be using heavy equipment to dig up the area over the next weeks and months, he said.

The northern end of the wildfire is fully guarded and mop up is complete, the latest update from Alberta Wildfire said. Infrared scanning from helicopters to identify hotspots is now being done. Firefighters and heavy equipment will target those hotspots.

The Chuckegg Creek wildfire has burned approximately 331,167 hectares.There are 1,063 firefighters and personnel working on the fire, using 127 pieces of heavy equipment, and 55 helicopters.

It is now the only out-of-control wildfire burningin Alberta;the neighbouring Jackpot Creek fire was listed as being held as of 11 a.m. Tuesday.