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Although wind blew smoke and flames toward High Level on Sunday, the breeze is expected to shift away from High Level overnight into Monday, Andrew Hanon, a spokesman for the provincial operations centre, said on Sunday night.

The fire conditions will remain extreme until the area receives rain, Elliott warned.

Fire break buffering town from blaze

Nearly all the previously forested land in a three-kilometre stretch between the town and the edge of the fire has been carefully pre-burned by fire crews. That removed fuel for the fire from nearly 6,000 hectares in a 10-kilometre line.

In town, fire reinforcements from 22 different Alberta towns and municipalities have been checking yards. They’ve removed debris, propane tanks and patio furniture away from houses. Embers from a forest fire can travel up to one kilometre, and no one wants an errant spark to start a new blaze behind the lines.

Crews were lucky to have the weather cooperate for as long as it did, said Travis Fairweather, provincial wildfire information officer.

More help is arriving daily. As of Sunday afternoon, more than 400 forest firefighters were working on the blaze. Until Sunday, the fire had been largely growing away from the town. It was about 105,200 hectares in size as of 4 p.m. Sunday.

Workers were using 28 helicopters, eight air tankers and 46 pieces of heavy equipment to battle the blaze.

“We will see increased chance of fire spread towards the community, but we feel the preparations we have taken have put us in a pretty good position to be able to meet the challenge and prevent as much damage as possible,” said Elliot.