Wildfire in August 2021 along Trans Canada Highway at Deadmans Flats.
The presence helicopter tour flights and nearby highway gives us good photo-documentation of the rapid and effective initial attack of a wildfire that began in the Trans Canada Highway ditch near Deadmans Flats. The fire spread rapidly eastward though the forest near the highway and a the adjacent AltaLink powerline. Initially, flamelengths were too high for either fire crews or helicopter bucketing to directly suppress. However, helicopter water drops within the powerline, and several well-placed aerial retardent drops flattened out the flames and stopped fire spread upslope into a housing development. Helicopter bucketing and hand crews then extinguished the burn. As always occurs with any event near the Trans Canada, traffic back-ups occured although vehicles could be diverted to Highway 1A on north side of the valley.
The wildfire near Deadmans Flats on Friday August 13, 2021 is an interesting case study. Usually powerlines are ignition sources that threaten communities. However, here the powerline clearing saved Alpine Village, a small community on the dry slopes of Pigeon Mountain east of Canmore.