Advertisement.

Rain helps battle to contain wildfire south of Wrigley

Wildfires burn southeast of Wrigley, which can be seen at the top of this Sentinel-2 satellite image, in August 2022
Wildfires burn southeast of Wrigley, which can be seen at the top of this Sentinel-2 satellite image, on August 17, 2022.

Rain over the past day has helped fire crews working to contain a wildfire burning south of Wrigley, the NWT government says.

Crews have been trying to hold fire FS030 at Bell Ridge, a 600-metre ridge east of the highway 20 km southeast of the community. So far, the fire has not passed the ridge.

In its Friday update, the NWT’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources characterized the fire’s lack of progress as “decent news.”

Advertisement.

“The area got some rain in the last 24 hours,” the department stated on Twitter, adding more rain is forecast in the days ahead.

“Northerly winds are likely to limit growth and push the fire away from Wrigley,” the updated continue. “The community is not at risk, but that can always change fast.”

North of Fort Smith, work to protect cabins from fire SS069 continues. Eleven cabins now have some form of protection around them and none are so far understood to have been lost to the fire.