Fire near Waterton Nation Park stays stable; evacuation alert remains

WATERTON, Alta. – A fire just south of Alberta's Waterton National Park seemed to have stabilized on Saturday but an evacuation order for all the park's trails and sites remained in effect.

"The fire did not grow significantly last night," Parks Canada spokesman John Stoesser said Saturday. "It remains still in the Boundary Creek Valley in Glacier National Park, U.S.A.

"We have an evacuation alert in effect still for all of Waterton Lakes National Park."

All the park's campgrounds, trails, lakes and backcountry areas are closed. Stoesser said the townsite is the only part of the park that remains open.

"The townsite is one of the biggest draws to the park, so people can still come into the town.

"There is some smoke, but it's warm with some light winds."

The flames are about seven kilometres south of the town.

Highways through the park and into the town remain open.

Stoesser said the humid air in the area is helping firefighters and between five and 20 millimetres of rain are expected Sunday.

"Anything five and above would be good for this situation and help with this fire," Stoesser said.

The fire is now about 770 hectares in size. The fight against it is being led by U.S. crews but Parks Canada has committed two helicopters and an intial attack team to the effort.

"We're working very, very closely with Glacier National Park," said Stoesser.