Jean Marie River downgrades evacuation alert, ‘risk has minimized’

Officials in Jean Marie River say the community has moved from evacuation alert to evacuation notice as the threat from a nearby wildfire has decreased.

The Dehcho community had been on a fire-related evacuation alert from July 7-12 and again from July 27 until Wednesday.

Fire FS014, to the west and northwest, was considered a potential threat. NWT Fire said recent rain “and good work by crews and air support” meant the threat level had dropped.

In a notice on Wednesday, the community said it was “de-escalating the evacuation alert … due to a decreased fire risk at this time.”

Conditions could still change, the notice added, and residents should “stay informed and prepared.”

Evacuation notice is the lowest of three threat levels for NWT communities. Evacuation alerts are used if the situation worsens and residents need to be prepared to leave. An evacuation order instructs people to go.

“Thank you for all the firefighters and front-line workers who have been working so hard to fight fire FS014, you are doing an awesome job,” the community stated in a Facebook post.

“Our risk has minimized and our threat is now decreased.”