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NWT Fire says a wildfire burning on the edge of Fort Good Hope for the past 10 days broke through firefighters’ efforts to contain it on Wednesday afternoon.
By email, the territory’s wildfire agency said fire VQ001 had “jumped the containment line on the north side near the Rabbit Skin River.”
“We have no confirmed reports of structure loss at this time. Air tankers and crews are actioning the hotspots that have crossed the containment line,” wildfire information officer Shannon Graf stated.
“With the current weather being hot and dry, flare-ups and hotspots are to be expected. Crews and air support have been monitoring the lines and actioning incursions.”
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The precise consequences on the ground were not immediately clear.
Fort Good Hope has been under an evacuation order since June 15, but more than 100 people have stayed in the community to help fight the fire.
On Wednesday afternoon and evening, multiple residents reported being told to leave. In one video shared to Facebook just after 6pm, a resident exclaimed “evacuating now” as a siren could be heard in the background.
A message was pushed across the NWT Alert system just before 6:30pm stating Fort Good Hope was under an evacuation order, but it wasn’t clear if this was a fresh order or a renewal of the existing order. The NWT government’s public safety page did not carry any update.
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Shortly after 7pm, a charter community staff member said the chief had ordered a full evacuation of non-essential workers, who were asked to head to the band office.
Earlier, Chief Collin Pierrot had described efforts taking place through Tuesday night into Wednesday to combat the fire.
“Some of our guys have been going since the early morning and we asked them to go home and get some rest. Our night shifts are out there now,” Pierrot wrote early on Wednesday.
There had been no recent satellite pass providing reliable hotspot information as of 7:50pm.
NWT Fire has warned that a “heatwave” across the territory will complicate the task facing firefighters and could lead to fresh wildfires elsewhere.
Fort Good Hope’s weather station reported a temperature of 26C on Wednesday evening, about 5C warmer than the average high in the region for this time of year. Highs are expected to push closer to 30C on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
No rain is forecast for Fort Good Hope until early next week.
