‘This is worse than 2014’ says NWT’s environment minister

More than two million hectares of the Northwest Territories have now burned this summer, and the NWT’s environment minister says 2023 will be worse than the infamous “summer of smoke” in 2014.

Nine years ago, more than three million hectares burned and residents of many communities were deeply affected by unending, acrid smoke.

That wildfire season ended up costing the NWT government $56 million.

Environment minister Shane Thompson says this summer will do more damage and is expected to cost more.

“This is our worst fire season. It started early, and it’s probably going to go late,” Thompson told Cabin Radio, speaking by phone from Fort Simpson.

“2014 was our worst fire season and it’s going to be worse than that.”

So far, five of the territory’s communities have been evacuated for portions of this summer. At the moment, eight communities have wildfires within 30 km of their boundaries, though NWT Fire says none of those places are currently under threat.

As of Sunday, 2,034,797 hectares had burned in the NWT.

Of 237 fires recorded this year, 205 remain active.

Around 400 firefighters have worked in the territory this summer, not counting more than 100 people operating under Parks Canada’s command in Wood Buffalo National Park and Alberta crews who have taken on management of fires like SS022, north of Fort Smith.

According to Thompson, his department expects this wildfire season to drag on certainly for one more month and very likely for two, mimicking last year, when the NWT – highly unusually – was still recording active fires deep into October.

“It’s very, very dry,” he said.

“We’re seeing a lack of precipitation and then we have the challenge of smoke, so crews can’t get in and planes can’t drop retardant on the fires.

“Down in the Dehcho, we’re seeing more rain. That has helped our situation down here, but other areas are not seeing the rain.”

In late July, the NWT government put the cost of this wildfire season at $30 million. Thompson had no updated figure on Saturday but told Cabin Radio the bill is increasing all the time, with work currently under way to bring in extra helicopters if some can be found.

Sixty firefighters from South Africa, who had previously been working in Alberta, were due to arrive in the NWT on Sunday, relieving outgoing crews from Alaska and New Brunswick, but Thompson said the territory is not currently short of firefighters.

That contradicts a position taken by his cabinet colleague and housing minister Paulie Chinna, who last week told Tulita residents that Thompson’s Department of Environment and Climate Change was “in great need right now” and facing a “huge shortage” of crews.

“The NWT has not experienced a shortage,” Thompson said. “There is not a huge need for more at this time.”

He said a recent call for people to come forward was “to assist with mop-up efforts and provide our primary firefighters with some reprieve during this challenging season,” rather than to address critical gaps.

“We’ve looked at our needs and we’ve developed our plan, and we have our fighters that we need to deal with what we have right now,” the minister said.

Crews are working 19 days on and three days off, the mandatory rest period, Thompson said.

“Even when we give them the three days’ mandatory leave, they want to go back out there. For a lot of these firefighters, it’s the residents or their families or friends that they’re trying to protect,” he added, while stressing that the territory is trying to protect its crews, given the recent passing of Adam Yeadon, a young firefighter killed by a falling tree outside Fort Liard.

“The other pressure is from residents on our firefighters, to get out there and do things, but sometimes it’s not safe for them,” Thompson said.

“We’ve got to remember this is about the safety of people. We’ve already lost one firefighter right now and we need to be very receptive to the fact that this is a very dangerous job. We need to respect that.”