Where to expect wildfires along NWT Highway 3

Multiple new wildfires are burning in the vicinity of Highway 3 between Behchokǫ̀ and Fort Providence, NWT Fire said on Monday.

Four fires, named ZF014 through ZF017, have been documented in the area over the past 24 hours. All are believed to have been caused by lightning in a sparsely populated area of the territory.

The nearest to Highway 3 is ZF015, reported at 15 hectares in size and out of control as of 4:30pm on Monday. Hotspots from that fire were roughly five kilometres from the road according to Nasa hotspot-tracking website Firms at the same time.

As of Monday afternoon, the highway – which connects Yellowknife, Behchokǫ̀ and Whatì to Fort Providence and southern Canada – remained open to traffic with no restrictions. You can use Drive NWT to check the latest conditions.

NWT Fire said the fires were being assessed for action. Travellers can expect to see smoke.

ZF014 (to the east) and ZF016 (to the west) are a little farther from Highway 3 than ZF015, while ZF017 appears from Firms data to be about 20 km from Highway 9 to Whatì and 35 km from Highway 3.

Monday’s update from the territory’s wildfire agency continued a trend in recent days of numerous new lightning-caused fires being reported.

Officials had anticipated that the onset of “lightning season” in western and northern Canada could result in this, with many areas of the NWT still in drought. The territory had been warned in recent forecasts to expect “significant” fire activity in July and August.

So far, no communities are directly threatened by any of the 61 active fires that were burning in the territory as of Monday evening. Just under 20 new fires were documented on Monday alone.

Other active fires near highways that might produce smoke seen by drivers include FS015 on the southern side of Highway 7 just south of its intersection with Highway 1, fires SS008 and SS010 west of Highway 1 heading up from northern Alberta toward Enterprise, and a string of fires that started in the past several days near the Dempster Highway between Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik.

Several fires are now burning between 40 km and 50 km north of Inuvik, an unusually high latitude for wildfires even by NWT standards.

A crew with air support is working to contain EV018, NWT Fire said, and prevent its growth towards the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway.

Crews are also working on fire EV019 and EV021, some 15-25 km southwest of Fort McPherson and, at EV019’s closest point, five kilometres west of the Dempster Highway.

Elsewhere, significant rain has helped crews fighting FS014 midway between Fort Simpson and Jean Marie River.

Fire FS007, northeast of Wrigley, is now being held.

Fire VQ007, nine kilometres southwest of Fort Good Hope, is now listed as under control.