Fire gutted two duplexes in Fort Resolution on Saturday. The cause was not immediately clear.
In a noon phone call, Chief Louis Balsillie of the Deninu Kųę́ First Nation said nobody had been hurt in the initial moments of the fire.
After this article was first published, he said on Facebook that one person had been hurt during the subsequent response.
“Really sad day for my community,” he wrote.
He said the loss of the homes would run to millions of dollars in replacement costs, questioning where more homes would come from.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Chief Balsillie said people responding to the fire had been forced to knock down one building with heavy equipment after firefighters ran out of water.
Photos from the scene suggested at least one property, if not both, had been damaged beyond recovery.
“Sad, sad, sad,” Balsillie said.
A senior NWT government official said the territory was aware of the situation. A territorially appointed administrator has been running Fort Resolution for the past year rather than a mayor and council.
Balsillie and the community’s MLA, Richard Edjericon, have in recent months questioned the local ability to respond to fires. Fort Resolution has endured periods with no firefighters and there have been questions about the suitability of its fire truck, though communities minister Vince McKay said in the legislature this week he understood the truck to be in working order.
NWT Fire said on Saturday it had sent wildfire crews and one helicopter to provide “aid to local firefighters in Fort Resolution as they respond to a structure fire to ensure it doesn’t reach forested areas.”
