Alberta wildfires cause doubling of evacuee numbers in 24 hours, now at 10,000

Another 4,500 people were forced from their homes over a 24-hour perioddue to smoke from fires in northern Alberta, government officials said Thursday.

"These smoke impacts have created a significant increase in evacuees,"Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshensaid in a news conference Thursday afternoon.

"We began the day yesterday [Wednesday] with approximately 5,500 evacuees and we currently have over 10,000."

The Chuckegg Creek fire, which forced people to leave High Levelat an alarmingly fast rate, hasn't been slowing.

"It travelled about 30 kilometres south yesterday [Wednesday] between noon and fouro'clock [Thursday]morning, which means it was travelling at a rate of about 23 metres a minute," said Christie Tucker from Alberta Wildfire.

Dry, windy conditions andlow humidity have made conditions challenging for firefighters over a 24-hour period.

• Homes reportedly destroyed by wildfire in northern Alberta Mtis settlement

Tucker said the fire moved across Highway 35 to Paddle Prairie and also jumped the Peace River, which is about 700 metres wide.

Two fires Maria Lake and MacMillan Complex in the Slave Lake area weregrowing and moving closer together.

The town of Slave Lake was on an eight-hour evacuation alert, meaning people should be ready to leave if given eight hours notice.

• Wildfires force more evacuations in remote northern Alberta communities

Evacuations also expanded in Mackenzie and Northern Lights Counties on Wednesday and Thursday

Fire officials were trying to confirmreports from Paddle Prairie residents that homes were lost due to fire.

The provincial operations centre has moved from a response Level 3 to a Level 4 since Wednesday. That means representatives of every government department arejoined by federal and industry representatives like ATCO and CN Rail.