City says ‘fire near tent pads’ has been extinguished

The City of Yellowknife says a fire on an area of undeveloped land near the NWT legislature has been extinguished.

Emergency vehicles could be seen near the intersection of the legislature’s access road and the main road into Yellowknife on Saturday afternoon.

48 Street heading to and from Yellowknife was temporarily closed in both directions.

“The city can confirm that there was a fire near the tent pads constructed off 48 St near the Legislative Assembly,” a City of Yellowknife spokesperson told Cabin Radio by email.

“The Yellowknife Fire Department responded and ECC also attended,” the city added, referring to the Department of Environment and Climate Change, which runs the NWT’s wildfire operations.

“RCMP and MED were on scene for safety and traffic control. The fire has since been extinguished. The city has no further details at this time,” the spokesperson added.

The tent pads referred to by the city are a recent addition to the commissioner’s land outside the legislature. They are part of an advocacy group’s work to create a safe tent encampment for people without homes.

NWT Fire, contacted earlier on Saturday afternoon, said it had no information about a fire near the legislature at the time.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries related to Saturday’s fire.