Firefighters safely evacuated after getting trapped by northern Alberta wildfire

Crews battling a fire in northern Alberta are now safe after losing radio contact and took shelter from a runaway wildfire that's inching closer to the community. A spokesman for Forestry Minister Todd Loewen says two teams of firefighters are heading to Slave Lake after losing contact while they worked to battle a blaze west of Fort McMurray.

The ministry says access to the area has been restored and it is relieved that the firefighters were unharmed. An earlier social media post from Loewen says one group took shelter at the local fire station near Chipewyan Lake, while another hunkered down at a school.

Loewen had said smoke was hampering efforts to evacuate the firefighters and that some structures had been damaged by the flames.

It comes as the Prairie provinces grapple with massive wildfires that have forced thousands from their homes, including 17,000 in northern Manitoba.