Sambaa K’e facing ‘serious situation’ but key details aren’t clear

A wildfire south of Sambaa K’e appears to have undergone “explosive and unexpected growth” but the NWT government says the exact situation is hard to discern.

Satellite imagery from the Firms wildfire tracker shows fire FS001 making an extreme surge to the west and northwest in the past 24 hours, but the territory’s wildfire agency isn’t sure if the satellite is picking up actual fire growth or a false signal from heavy smoke.

That’s complicating the overall picture, because the same smoke means aircraft can’t operate, making verification of the satellite information much harder.

Even without a full understanding of what’s happening, the NWT government on Saturday said the outlook is now bleaker than was previously the case.

“While we must verify the extent of growth when it is safe, what is clear we are facing a serious situation,” read an update from the Department of Environment and Climate Change at 2:30pm.

“Satellite detection picked up explosive and unexpected growth on the northwest front of the fire overnight,” the department reported. “This came along with some growth to the north and east observed yesterday. By these measures, the fire has moved within 17 km of Sambaa K’e.

“Risk to the community from this wildfire has risen. The coming days will be challenging for both the team fighting this fire and folks evacuated worried about their community.

“Our team will work to resolve these uncertainties when it is safe, and continue doing everything possible to protect the community.”

Mike Westwick, a spokesperson for the department, explained to Cabin Radio why the satellite data – “hot spots” detected from orbit – might not match what is actually happening.

“Sometimes, when you have atmospheric inversions that push smoke lower to the ground, it can actually pick up as heat signatures,” Westwick said on Saturday morning.

“What [NWT crews] are observing on the ground isn’t that level of growth out that way, and the winds were not expected to push it that way.

“They want to do some verification work to properly characterize how much it has grown. There’s a crazy amount of smoke there. Their initial thought is that it hasn’t taken that big of a run. The conditions wouldn’t have pointed toward that.

“The one challenge is that because there’s all the smoke, flying is pretty difficult.”

The community of around 100 people was evacuated earlier this week, in part because of concern that if the fire grew closer, smoke would interfere with a later evacuation effort in a community that relies on air access.

Sambaa K’e’s residents were taken to Fort Simpson, where the recreation centre is serving as a shelter for evacuees, though many people have been able to find support and accommodation elsewhere.

The forecast for Saturday is a high of 26C, the Department of Environment and Climate Change said, which “will encourage intense burning and volatile fire activity,” especially with winds of up to 30 km/h coming from the south and southeast.

“Minimal showers may come overnight, but relief is expected to be minor,” the department reported.

“This is a huge fire with a lot of dry, continuous forest which has not had natural fire in a long time.”

Fire crews have built a fire break stretching for five kilometres to the south of Sambaa K’e. Two more crews are on the way, with multiple air tankers and four helicopters assigned to the fire. However, the department added, they can only work on the fire “as it is safe to do so.”