NWT demobilizes Wrigley wildfire management team

A wildfire incident management team dispatched to tackle a fire south of Wrigley will be demobilized after “achieving their objectives.”

The team ultimately ended up tackling two fires – FS013 and, predominantly, FS008. The burned area of 21,933 hectares has not increased for more than a week, the territory said on Tuesday.

Controlled burns have been successful, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said, and the area will be monitored closely by the regional fire team even with the incident management crew standing down.

At one point, FS008 had been sufficiently threatening that Wrigley community leaders began planning for a potential evacuation.

ENR said fires were continuing to burn on an area known as the Green Islands.

“This is known to our team and will be left to burn out on its own as there is no path for it to cause growth,” the department stated. “This may still cause smoke in the area near Highway 1. This is known to our team and no reason for alarm.”