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A wildfire burning southwest of Fort McPherson has reached the Dempster Highway, which is now closed at the NWT-Yukon border.
On Monday evening, the Yukon government’s Yukon 511 travel alerts system confirmed the highway is closed at the border because of the wildfire.
The NWT’s wildfire agency said high winds had driven fire EV012 from 200 to 750 burned hectares over the past day, and it had reached the highway about 30 km from the border.
“It is approximately 40 km southwest of Fort McPherson and less than 10 km southwest of Midway Lake,” a Monday update on the Department of Environment and Climate Change website stated.
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“Protecting cabins at Midway Lake and limiting growth towards Fort McPherson are priorities on this fire.
“Air tanker action has been ineffective due to high winds and fire intensity. Sprinklers are being set up at Midway Lake to protect cabins there.”
