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Jean Marie River is under an evacuation order because of an oncoming wildfire, an alert issued at 1:40pm on Sunday stated.
The Dehcho community becomes the seventh of the summer to be evacuated in the Northwest Territories, just a day after Fort Smith’s residents were told to leave because of a separate fire.
Head to Fort Simpson if you have no arrangements elsewhere, Jean Marie River residents were told in an alert sent to cellphones in the area.
“A fire started in close proximity to the community this morning. Crews were unable to action it yet because of weather conditions,” an NWT Fire information officer told Cabin Radio by email, explaining that high winds had kept helicopters and air tankers grounded.
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“The Jean Marie access road has been closed due to this fire,” the spokesperson stated. What that closure meant for residents trying to leave was not immediately clear. NWT Fire said more details would follow.
“More information will be available once it is safe for crews to assess the fire,” the spokesperson wrote. “Extreme wind and weather conditions are increasing fire activity and threatening the highway.”
On Sunday evening, the NWT’s Department of Municipal and Community Affairs said it was working on a way to get residents out despite the road being unavailable.
“We are actively working on logistics to help JMR residents leave their community. Once we have logistics confirmed, we will post updates to our social media,” a spokesperson wrote.
“It is close to the community,” said Paul Thunder-Stealer, who was in Jean Marie River on Sunday, sharing photos of the fire on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.
Highway 1 closed between Kakisa and Enterprise at the same time as the result of a separate fire being blown to the east, away from Kakisa but in the direction of the road, complicating the plans of any Jean Marie River residents who might have sought shelter in Hay River or Alberta.
