The UCP government will hold a virtual town hall for all fire evacuees on Tuesday night.."The Government of Alberta is holding a virtual tele-townhall for evacuees this evening to answer questions and connect residents to resources," said Colin Blair, executive director for Alberta Emergency Management Agency."It will start at 7:30 p.m. this evening. The number for evacuees to call is 1-833-380-0691.".The sessions will be held nightly until May 14..The rain on Tuesday helped crews battle wildfires in Alberta as progress is being made with 88 fires still burning..However, 24 of the 88 are classified as out of control.."Alberta continues to be under a provincial state of emergency and the provincial Emergency Coordination Center remains at Level 4 as of 3 p.m.," Blair said.."In addition to the provincial state of emergency, there are 19 states of local emergency as well as two band council resolutions at this time, there are 12 evacuation orders in place. As of last night, the evacuation order for the town of Edison in some areas of Yellowhead County for Marlboro to the lake area has officially been lifted by the municipality.".Blair said while there's been some rain in the past 24 hours, he would like to remind everyone the situation can change rapidly and there continues to be dry conditions in many parts of the province.."It's important that residents and affected communities remain diligent and be prepared to leave on short notice. Those who are on evacuation alert should pack important medication and documents, enough food and supplies for a minimum of three days and plan to bring pets," Blair said.."We strongly encourage all Albertans to download the emergency alert so they get alerts directly to their cellular phone.".Blair said as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, the estimated number of evacuees is at just more than 24,000 which is a decline from 29,000 as stated on Monday.."Approximately 11,000 evacuees registered at 11 reception centres which are up from yesterday. I highly encourage all evacuees to register so they can be connected to resources and assistance," Blair said.."I need to correct some information from yesterday. Evacuees need not have been out of their homes for seven consecutive days — it's seven days in total. If residents were evacuated, then returns to their homes and then were re-evacuated, they are eligible if it's a cumulative total of seven days.".Blair said he believes that's good news for those who have been asked to evacuate more than once in the past few weeks.."Evacuees can apply for the payment at alberta.ca/emergency by using a basic or verified alberta.ca account.".Blair then addressed some key questions he said he was hearing.."First, there have been a lot of questions about the extent of the damage. We are starting to get information on structural damage in communities. Although we have some preliminary information on damage to structures in some communities, we have a responsibility to first provide directly this information to community members impacted," Blair said..Blair said the UCP government is working with municipalities to further assess property damage.."This information will become more concrete in the days ahead. The second question I want to attack is people who have questions behind the re-entry and when they can return to their homes," Blair said.."There is a process for re-entry and it is crucial that evacuees follow the directions of their local authority. With each community or correction with each local authority incident commander has determined that the community is safe and that efforts will shift to planning for re-entry.".The third question Blair addressed was about support.."Our work continues on getting personnel from the Canadian Armed Forces where we need them and are ensuring these valuable resources are best utilized as quickly as possible," Blair said..Since Monday 100 people from the private sector volunteered to help fight the wildfires, Blair added..The number for evacuees to call is 1-833-380-0691.
