First images emerge from ‘engulfed’ Enterprise

Photos are beginning to emerge of gutted buildings in Enterprise, NWT, which appeared to sustain a direct hit from a wildfire on Sunday.

Satellite imagery suggests fire SS052 struck the small community, south of Hay River, on Sunday evening. The nearby highway was overrun by fire, RCMP reported that night.

On Monday afternoon, NWT Fire said SS052 had “engulfed” Enterprise.

“Crews are currently assessing the extent of structure loss,” the wildfire agency stated just before 3pm.

Images on Monday showed near-complete devastation to some buildings. At the Winnie’s store in Enterprise, only the sign appeared to remain.

So far, there is no formal confirmation of the full extent of the damage to the community.

Other images showed vehicles abandoned on the highway after what appeared to have been accidents while trying to flee the area.

By email, though, RCMP said they had yet to receive reports of missing persons and it appeared nobody had been trapped in any vehicles.

“We had some officers travel through the road between Enterprise and Hay River this morning,” Cpl Matt Halstead wrote.

“They reported about a dozen vehicles in the ditch that have been destroyed by fire. They stopped to check each one as they passed. Fortunately, it does not appear that anyone was trapped in the vehicles and we have not had any reports of missing people yet.

“This of course could change. With multiple evacuation sites and limited communications, I don’t think anyone has a really strong grasp on where everyone is.”