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Hay River and Fort Smith residents are hoping this is the week that they get a firm timeline for a return home.
Residents of those communities, plus the Kátł’odeeche First Nation and Enterprise, will reach one month displaced from their homes this week.
Hay River released a re-entry plan but has yet to attach dates to it. The town had been expected to provide an update with a timeline by 8pm Monday but said due to volatile wildfire conditions, it was not yet ready to execute phase one of its plan.
The Kátł’odeeche First Nation previously said essential workers will begin returning from Tuesday but gave no dates for other members to come home. On Monday, the First Nation said it was pushing back re-entry for essential workers until Wednesday, as the fire was close to the community.
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Fort Smith’s mayor and council approved a phased re-entry plan Monday morning with a tentative timeline for re-opening the town. The general population is expected to be allowed home on September 18, dependent on wildfire activity and road conditions.
Meanwhile, re-entry flights to bring Yellowknife residents home are continuing beyond the GNWT’s initial Sunday cut-off.
The territory said flights are continuing into a new week to repatriate evacuees accommodated in some smaller Alberta communities. The GNWT said Sunday was, however, the last day for evacuees accommodated in Calgary, Edmonton or Leduc to catch a free flight home.
Registration for GNWT flights ended on Friday last week.
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On this page, we brought you updates throughout Monday on plans to bring residents home, the latest travel news for Yellowknifers still making their way home by road and air, and news from the crews fighting major fires across the territory.
Read our quick summary of wildfire threat to get the latest on the fires in less than a minute of reading. And remember to bookmark our homepage for all of our coverage in one place.
You can also check out our guide to how Yellowknife businesses are reopening and the offers they have for returning residents.
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- Still an evacuee? Tell us how it’s going where you are. What are your concerns and what’s keeping you going right now?
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Updates appear below, latest first. All times are MT. Live coverage has concluded
Live text reporter: Emily Blake in Yellowknife
19:59 – That’s it for live updates tonight. Cabin Radio will be back early tomorrow to provide the latest on evacuation and the wildfire situation across the territory.
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19:55 – Due to “volatile” wildfire conditions and the growth of a finger of the wildfire east of the Kátł’odeeche First Nation, the Town of Hay River says it will not be executing phase one of it’s re-entry plan – the return of essential workers – at this time. Council says it will review conditions and fire containment progress tomorrow.
18:54 – Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan visited several NWT communities affected by wildfires today. He says the federal government is “expeditiously assessing” the territory’s request for disaster assistance to address damage caused by this summer’s wildfires.
18:39 – The Town of Fort Smith says it will be posting PSAs on re-entry guidelines and details over the coming days.
18:04 – Latest update from NWT Fire: There is one new fire in the Dehcho caused by an abandoned campfire.
“Remember: fire danger remains high, at the end of a long, intense fire season. Let’s prevent fires where we can!”
17:53 – If any pregnant evacuees are willing to share their experiences evacuating or the decision to return home for a story, they can reach out to [email protected].
17:04 – Turning to the North Slave region, wildfire information officer Mike Westwick says there is significant smoke in the area.
“No return after wildfire has encroached near communities is a risk-free return, nor is it a fire-free return. It is a state of needing to live with fire and that is a reality that many communities have faced and will need to face as we move forward.”
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17:02 – On fire conditions in Fort Smith, wildfire information officer Mike Westwick says as of yesterday, fire risk has reduced for the community.
Significant fire activity observed on Highway 5, which is being addressed.
16:59 – Wildfire information officer Mike Westwick says Hay River is seeing significant fire activity. Crews and heavy equipment have worked through almost 90 percent of the priority line.
Fire activity is severe today with the drought and windy conditions, pushing the fire east. However, they have not lost any new structures.
16:58 – So far 2,876 vehicles have returned north and more than 1,500 evacuees returned by air.
Between Monday September 4 and Sunday, September 10, the GNWT says approximately 5,338 vehicles returned to Yellowknife. Vehicles were counted, but the number of passengers in each vehicle were not, therefore the GNWT does not have an exact number of residents that returned by vehicle to Yellowknife at this time.
16:56 – Hay River and Kátł’odeeche First Nation have re-entry plans but have not yet announded return dates.
First Nation council is meeting today at 6:30pm to make progress on a decision for re-entry.
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16:53 – From Simona who is covering tonight’s press conference: Around 20 speeding tickets were issued over the weekend for people returning North.
16:51 – The NWT government is opening pre-registration for re-entry flights for evacuees from Hay River, Kátł’odeeche First Nation and Fort Smith at 8am tomorrow.
15:57 – Heading out to a scrum with Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan. Cabin Radio reporter Simona will be asking questions at the press conference. I’ll be back with live updates shortly.
15:53 – Tonight’s press conference will be starting shortly. You can watch it live on CBC or the City of Yellowknife’s webcast.
15:02 – We were just forwarded an email that the Alberta government has arranged for a flight to Yellowknife tomorrow. There will be a bus to transport evacuees in Red Deer to the Edmonton airport. Anyone wishing to catch that bus must report to the Dawe Reception Centre by 11:30am on Tuesday.
Those wanting to catch the flight to Yellowknife should call the reception centre at 403-318-6549 to register as soon as possible. The reception centre is open in-person from 8am to noon.
14:59 – More on mail delivery in Yellowknife, what’s happening with mail for communities still under evacuation order, and how to sign up for free mail forwarding.
14:32 – Canada Post has changed its delivery service alert for Yellowknife from red to yellow. That means mail delivery operations have resumed but there may still be delays due to air quality.
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Red alerts remain in place for Fort Smith, Enterprise, Hay River and Kátł’odeeche First Nation, meaning mail delivery is still suspended for those locations which remain under evacuation order. A Yellow alert is in place for Colville Lake.
“We understand the importance of postal services to our customers in those communities and we are working to resume regular daily mail delivery as soon as possible,” Canada Post stated in an email.
It says it continues to offer a free mail forwarding service for those affected by wildfires in the NWT.
13:29 – The Town of Fort Smith has announced that essential workers can begin returning tomorrow. Employers wishing to be added to the approved re-entry list are asked to contact Director of Community Services Emily Colucci at [email protected] or 306-515-3763. Only essential workers are being allowed back at this time. The town warns that limited resources, health care and food and no childcare will be available.
13:23 – The NWT government says evacuees from Yellowknife, Ndılǫ, Dettah and the Ingraham Trail who are waiting for a re-entry flight from Alberta but have not received confirmation should email [email protected] by 8pm tonight. It says it has flights for remaining evacuees who were not in Edmonton or Calgary.
12:58 – More on Fort Smith’s re-entry plan. The general public will be allowed to return on September 18, dependent on wildfire activity and road conditions.
12:31 – Fort Smith mayor and council has approved a re-entry plan with tentative dates for when residents will be allowed to return, dependent on wildfire activity. The town says residents should not return to Fort Smith unless directed to do so as an essential service worker. Dates for the re-entry of essential services will be announced on the town’s website and Facebook page. The evacuation order for Fort Smith remains in place.
11:23 – The Town of Fort Smith is holding a special council meeting this morning to discuss the re-entry plan. You can watch here.
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11:12 – The Town of Hay River says it expects to get an update from the territorial government about fire conditions at 6:30pm. It says a public update will be provided by 8pm on the timeline for re-entry to Hay River including the West Point First Nation and Hay River Métis Government Council.
You can read our story to learn more about Hay River and the Kátł’odeeche First Nation’s plans to bring residents home.
10:40 – Latest update from NWT Fire on the Hay River/Kátł’odeeche First Nation/Kakisa/Enterprise fire SS052: Hot, dry conditions continue today but NWT Fire says wildfire activity should be tempered by an inversion – where cooler air gets trapped closer to the ground – until the afternoon.
Later today, temperatures are forecast to reach 25C and winds are expected to gust up to 35 to 40 kilometres per hour from the south the southwest. The wildfire agency says that could lead to fire growth to the north and east, which crews are focusing on limiting.
NWT Fire says winds yesterday caused severe fire activity which pushed a portion of the eastern-most finger of the fire five kilometres north to the shores of Great Slave Lake on Kátł’odeeche First Nation and nearly 14 kilometres north at the northeast corner of the fire to the shores of the Mackenzie River from kilometre 156 on Highway 1. The wildfire agency says airtankers were not effective during the “explosive” fire activity yesterday but tankers were in the air this morning to hit targets to slow potential eastern growth.
NWT Fire says ignition operations south of Enterprise yesterday were successful. Helicopters and crews are using information from heat scans to address hotspots throughout today. Crews continue to tightline with heavy machinery while direct attack crews are following behind to extinguish anything hot or burning to build a strong perimeter around populated areas.
The wildfire agency says it will be issuing two daily updates through at least Wednesday with the increase in fire activity.
10:26 –
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10:14 – From Ollie: Our guide to Yellowknife businesses’ opening hours and special offers for returning residents has been updated. Take a look through dozens of businesses. If you have a business in the city, we’re operating a pay-what-you-can program: use the form on that page to submit your ad and tell us what you’d like to pay. (You don’t have to pay at all if you can’t afford it.)
10:07 – The Department of Infrastructure says 731 people drove northbound on the Deh Cho bridge on Sunday. That’s compared to 1,097 vehicles that passed the toll gantry headed north on Saturday, 1,048 on Friday, 821 Thursday, and 676 Wednesday. (Those figures include commercial and local traffic as well as evacuees headed home).
9:48 – There will be a press conference tonight at 4pm where officials will provide an update on the wildfire situation and evacuations.
9:15 – From Simona: For those affected by the “one strike” policy at hotels hosting evacuees – we would like to hear about your experiences. Please write to [email protected] with your name, contact information, and a brief summary of your experiences.
9:12 – Good morning everyone. We’ve gotten some questions from returning evacuees about when they might expect to get mail again. On Canada Post’s delivery service alert’s page, which was last updated Friday at 2pm, red alerts are still in place for Yellowknife, Hay River, Kátł’odeeche First Nation, Fort Smith and Enterprise. That means mail delivery is still suspended for those locations. The postal service has said letter mail and parcels destined for those locations were being held securely at a facility in Edmonton. We have reached out to Canada Post for information on when they expect mail delivery will resume and will post an update as soon as we know more. Canada Post says residents affected by wildfires in the NWT have until September 29 to sign up for a free mail forwarding service, for up to 12 months.
8:57 – This is Ollie handing you over to Emily Blake. I get to spend my day being cross-examined by lawyers for Yellowknife’s True North FM, who oppose Cabin Radio’s bid for an FM licence.
8:56 – This morning was the first fully staffed edition of our live morning audio show, Mornings at the Cabin, in maybe a month. Watch for the podcast a little later.
8:27 – Hi to Lisa, who wrote to us last night describing her re-entry flight experience. She says she and a colleague both preregistered for flights home but never received flight confirmation. Eventually, she writes: “We ended up just going to the Executive Flight Centre in Edmonton and they allowed us to get on the flight at 2 pm even though we were not booked. The flight left with empty seats.”8p
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Lisa adds: “This is not a criticism of whoever is running the show, just the facts of our experience. I can’t imagine what a nightmare this is to organize.”
7:42 – New from my colleague Simona: We spoke with Elders – at their homes, in evacuation centres and even on the fire line – about this summer’s upheaval across the NWT’s land and in communities.
7:28 – Smoke plumes on Highway 1 caught a lot of travellers’ eyes yesterday. Satellite hotspot mapping suggests most fire activity took place north of Highway 1 between the road and the Mackenzie River, below Big Island. There was also a big flare-up just west of the highway south of Enterprise.
7:22 – Some updates from the weekend. The GNWT re-entry flights are continuing into this week for evacuees who were hosted in smaller Alberta communities. Highway 7 reopened. The Edmonton evacuation centre has moved. And Kakisa’s evacuation order has lifted.
7:16 – Good morning and welcome back to our ongoing live coverage. If you’re still making your way home to Yellowknife, we’d love to hear how the journey is going, whether that’s by air or road – and if you’re a South Slave evacuee, we’ll bring you news here as work on re-entry plans continues.
