Fire believed to have ‘breached the community of KFN’

The NWT government believes the wildfire that triggered an evacuation of the Kátł’odeeche First Nation on Sunday has reached homes on the reserve.

The First Nation’s residents were told to leave the community at 4:30pm, just hours after a rapidly growing wildfire had first been spotted. The neighbouring town of Hay River has since also come under an evacuation order.

Speaking with Cabin Radio shortly after midnight on Monday, Department of Environment and Climate Change spokesperson Mike Westwick said it was “highly likely that the fire has breached the community of the Kátł’odeeche First Nation with damage to structures.”

Westwick added: “We won’t be able to definitively assess the extent of that damage until later.”

More: Hay River evacuates over wildfire, residents to head for Yellowknife

More: Timeline, photos and video – KFN and Hay River wildfire

The department earlier said its initial theory, yet to be confirmed, is that sparks from a vehicle may have begun the fire, termed SS-005.

Westwick said embers from that fire appear to have been carried by easterly winds across the Hay River on Sunday evening, triggering an evacuation of the town of Hay River.

“We’ll be assessing the situation a lot more over the coming hours. This is obviously a rapidly evolving situation and there are many details we don’t quite know yet,” Westwick said at 12:15am.

“We’ll be looking at strategies and tactics to do whatever is possible to protect the communities.”

Even with scattered showers in the forecast for the next day or two, Westwick said the exceptional warmth experienced by much of the NWT so far this month had contributed to “extreme conditions that are still going to challenge firefighting efforts.”