Fire no closer to Fort Liard despite ‘significant activity’

A wildfire southwest of Fort Liard is no closer to the community despite gusts of up to 50 km/h driving “significant activity,” NWT Fire said on Monday evening.

“Heavy winds brought much greater fire activity today. However, the fire has not advanced closer towards Fort Liard,” fire information officer Mike Westwick said by email.

The fire has still not reached the eastern shore of the Liard River and remains 19 km from the community.

Helicopters spent Monday bucketing hotspots while air tankers made drops to reduce the fire’s intensity and lower the risk of embers reaching that eastern shore, on which Fort Liard lies.

“You can sense the tension, there’s some stress and people are worried,” said Fort Liard’s mayor, Genevieve McLeod, earlier in the day.

“Other than that, we still have blue skies, the sun’s out. Everything looks good, so far.”

The fire has so far burned 639 hectares of forest.

Tuesday is expected to bring more warm and dry conditions with “lighter but still significant winds” pushing the fire to the east and north, NWT Fire stated.

“This could continue to put pressure on efforts to prevent the fire from crossing to the east shores of the Liard River,” Monday evening’s update continued.

“Thunderstorm cells may move through the area, meaning a chance for erratic winds and stronger gusts.”

A small amount of rain could fall on Tuesday evening, which firefighters say would be helpful but not game-changing.

The hamlet held a meeting on Saturday to update residents about the wildfire and the community’s evacuation plan, according to McLeod. Presently, Fort Liard remains on evacuation notice, which is below an alert or order.

“We have community safety officers that are on call 24 hours a day, and our fire department are all on standby in case fire would reach the community,” said McLeod.

“We’re all pretty prepared. We have a really good team in place.”

NWT Fire said residents of Fort Liard should move to Firesmart their homes, cabins and camps to reduce the risk of wildfire damage.

To Firesmart your home, NWT Fire said you can:

• clear your gutters of anything that burns;
• spray or sweep your roof off to clear any needles, leaves, or other dried debris which could burn;
• mow your lawn to less than two centimetres if possible;
• cut down any branches within 10 metres of buildings;
• move firewood piles at least 10 metres from buildings or move them inside;
• move lawn furniture, toys, lumber and anything else that can burn so it’s at least 10 metres away or inside; and
• cut down and remove any coniferous trees within 10 metres of your home if safe to do so, or prune all branches up to two metres off the ground.

Meanwhile, NWT Fire said on Monday evening that a range of hotspots reported by satellite mapping tools – which appeared to show the Fort Liard fire making a significant push to the north and northwest – had turned out to be false.

“This was assessed by helicopter and no new activity was found. This is a good reminder that false readings are a possibility when using these tools,” NWT Fire stated.