Wednesday, July 26’s wildfire updates as they happened

With that, we're concluding our live coverage for today. Cabin Radio's coverage of this intense week of fires continues first thing on Thursday, with an overnight update on ZF015, an update from ZF011 north of Yellowknife, and coverage of fires near the Taltson hydro dam in the South Slave.

Thanks for being with us today. Please, sleep as easy as you can and we'll be back to keep you informed as best we can tomorrow. 

The final NWT Fire update of the day has arrived. It confirms that the fire has reached Frank Channel but has not yet crossed over (via embers etc) to the other side.

There is no report of any further loss of homes or buildings on fire. 

The main change from previous updates is a description of how the fire behaved today – "major flare-ups seen around Rae and along Highway 3 ... heavy smoke and intense fire burning through the tops of trees" – and a forecast for Thursday.

"Tomorrow, more favourable winds expected, shifting from southeasterly in the morning to southwesterly by afternoon," the update reads, meaning the fire should be pushed north.

"This should give an opportunity to get good work done as this will take the pressure off the highway and populated areas," the update concludes.

There are several warnings from community government and Tłı̨chǫ Government staff on Facebook urging anyone still in Edzo to leave. The exact status of the fire isn't clear this evening, but an NWT Fire update is anticipated shortly. 

Still to come this evening, we're expecting one more detailed update from NWT Fire. We're also keeping our list of supports for evacuees updated. 

In the morning, we'll have an update on fire ZF011 north of Yellowknife and, of course, we'll have news first thing on whatever we're able to learn about the overnight status of ZF015.

"Saving lives is a priority over finances." At this afternoon's press conference, Premier Caroline Cochrane said the NWT will write to Ottawa over financial support to fight 2023's many wildfires. Here's our summary of the cost so far and what else was said by the premier and ministers.

We just got this in from a spokesperson for RBC, the bank, regarding the possibility of losing the fibre line:

"We are closely monitoring the wildfire situation and are hopeful that if there are challenges beyond our control, they’ll be resolved as quickly as possible. We continue to support our clients at the branch, online, and through telephone banking."

There had been lines forming at some Yellowknife ATMs in case the loss of the city's only fibre link meant services like cash dispensers went down.

The pace of updates will now slow a little heading into the evening. We'll bring you a full summary of the GNWT's news conference shortly, plus NWT Fire's evening update – and beyond that, any critically important news that breaks.

Several people have asked about the fire on Yellowknife's horizon right now. A plume was visible to the north or northeast of the city centre for much of the day. Here's a quick report on that fire, ZF011, so you know what you're looking at.

Back to Luke Grosco, whose harrowing video we saw earlier.

Grosco lives in Edzo and runs FC Services Ltd in Behchokǫ̀. He said he was busy packing up computers and important documents from the convenience store and fuelling station yesterday afternoon when he got a call from his uncle telling him to leave. 

Grosco, along with his son and a friend, attempted to leave in his truck, but he said they got caught on the way out of town.

“It was huge flames and the heat was very, very intensive," he told our reporter Chloe Williams. 

He described the sound of the fire as being like a train – “That’s how loud the fire was. All the crackling, it was scary.” – and said his truck also got hot and shut down because it wasn’t getting enough air.  

“I tried to start it. It wouldn’t start. Then the third time, it finally started and I just turned around.”

Grosco ended up staying overnight in Behchokǫ̀, along with about 12 other people remaining in the community. Having been a volunteer firefighter in the past, he said he helped fire crews look for spot fires and watch for embers floating around in the air. 

“These embers are like two, three inches. They’re huge, big enough to start a fire anywhere,” he said. 

“Our sewer lagoon was on fire, our dump was on fire, there’s fire on both sides of the road.”

Around 2am, after the fire had passed, he said he tried leaving again. This time, he made it back home to Edzo. 

“The scenery is – I don’t know how to describe it,” he said. “There’s no more trees, it’s just all burnt. It’s devastating for the whole community.”

Premier Caroline Cochrane ends the news conference with a round of thanks to everyone involved in wildfire response.

"This is one of the hottest, driest summers that we've seen. Please do your part. Firesmart around your homes. Keep combustible materials 10 metres away from your property. Clean gutters, clean debris," she tells residents, adding she has offered to help neighbours rake leaves.

Cochrane suggests a "block firesmarting party."

"Thank you everyone, and our hearts are with Behchokǫ̀. We're doing our best to protect and take care of all residents," she concludes. The conference is over.