On Saturday evening, the Town of Hay River extended a local state of emergency first declared one week ago in response to a wildfire.
With the Hay River-KFN wildfire still a threat, Hay River’s local state of emergency has been extended to another seven days, the town stated on Facebook.
Last Sunday, roughly 4,000 residents of Hay River and Kátł’odeeche First Nation (KFN) were ordered to leave their homes. Evacuation orders for both communities are still in place, and the length of the evacuation has been challenging for residents.
On Saturday, the town said the local state of emergency’s renewal is precautionary. The town is required to renew the emergency declaration every seven days.
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“This is simply a procedural activity,” the town said. “This is not an indication of reopening timeline.”
Meanwhile, a Saturday evening update from Kátł’odeeche First Nation said a KFN incident response team led by Chief April Martel and incident commander Alex Gresl is working to develop plans around housing for KFN members, ensuring their safety and well-being and maintaining government relations, among other priorities.
“We care about you! We are working hard to get recovery plans in place,” KFN stated in the update.
As of Saturday at 8pm, the wildfire remains out of control and has burned roughly 3,000 hectares, according to the territory’s wildfire agency.
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Yesterday, crews fighting the wildfire made progress in several areas of work, including strengthening dozer lines, widening the road through KFN, protecting structures and removing fuels around Highway 5 near the Kátł’odeh Bridge, the territory said on Facebook.
An ignition operation to protect Sandy Creek Lodge was successful and will continue on Sunday morning. However, the territory said a planned burn on the fire’s southeast flank was called off due to “severe conditions” that would have challenged containment.
With hot, dry weather expected again on Sunday, the territory’s wildfire agency said there are “more challenging days ahead.”
The agency added: “We know this is very difficult to hear for folks out of their homes for nearly a week. Just know we’re doing everything we can under these conditions to bring better news in the future.”
