Wildfire evacuation orders lifting for residents of Edson, Alta., and Yellowhead County

After nearly a week away, residents of Edson, Alta., and Yellowhead County have been given the green light to return home.

The wildfire evacuation order issued June 9 will lift at 6 p.m. Thursday, allowing residents to head home, town and county officials said during a noon update on social media. 

However, an evacuation alert is now in effect for residents in the region, meaning people should be prepared to evacuate on short notice within four hours. 

"From a firefighting perspective this fire is like holding a tiger by the tail. We cannot turn our backs on it. This is the reality," Christine Beveridge, Edson's chief administrative officer, said during Thursday's update.

The town, 200 kilometres west of Edmonton, is among dozens of communities across Alberta forced to evacuate during this year's historic wildfire season.

More than 8,000 residents were ordered to leave on June 9 as a fire grew dangerously close to Edson's southern boundary. It was the second time this year the town was evacuated due to the threat of wildfire. 

But not everyone from Edson is planning to return immediately.

Gord Lohr has been staying in an RV park in Spruce Grove, just west of Edmonton, since last week's evacuation. He told CBC News on Thursday that he won't go home until there's a guarantee he can stay put.

"Of course I'd like to get home," he said. "But if I drive for four hours, get home, and they say, 'Oh, you have to leave,' can you see any sense in that?"

Lohr, 80, said it's not easy for him to deal with packing and hooking up his RV, and he doesn't want to deal with the uncertainty of the ongoing evacuation alert while the wildfire near town remains out of control.

As crews continue to work on hotspots, municipal officials say much-needed rain has bolstered efforts to control wildfires. 

"When it comes to precipitation, five millimetres equals about one day of reprieve, meaning approximately we've received probably 50 mm of rain from this rain event over the last couple of days," Beveridge said.

The rainfall allows firefighters up to 14 days to go safely into areas impacted by wildfire to assess and further control the damage. 

Despite the rain, the flames of an out-of-control wildfire are still burning within 1.5 kilometres from Edson's southern edge. But firefighters have pushed the fire south past the McLeod River near Willmore Park.