Advertisement.
The Community Government of Whatì is advising residents to be prepared in case of an evacuation as a wildfire burns nearby.
The community issued an evacuation notice on Monday afternoon, telling residents to get ready for a potential emergency and to monitor news sources.
According to an update from NWT Fire on Sunday evening, lightning-caused wildfire ZF048 was burning 15km southwest of Whatì and airtankers were making drops on the north end of the fire to slow its growth.
The wildfire agency said in a further update on Monday evening that the fire was its “number one priority wildfire.”
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
NWT Fire said air tankers had helped reduce the fire’s intensity on Sunday and the fire was not likely to advance closer to the community under current conditions.
‘Aggressive fire weather’ anticipated
It said, however, there could be “aggressive fire weather” on Tuesday, which could cause the fire, which is currently 1,234 hectares, to grow to the north, closer to Whatì.
The wildfire agency said while there are “significant barriers” between the wildfire and the community, including large water bodies, it was “concerned” about the potential for the fire to grow.
“Drought conditions and very limited precipitation have made managing this wildfire extremely challenging since it received initial attack,” NWT Fire stated.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“While we did respond quickly upon detection, it has not responded to suppression. For this reason, [we] are using primarily indirect action and air attack to manage this wildfire at this time.”
NWT Fire said it was mobilizing additional people to help manage the fire and would be attacking it “aggressively” from the air when safe to do so. It said it was also exploring defence ignition opportunities to head off the wildfire’s growth and developing structure protection plans in the community.
Evacuation notice, alert and order
In the NWT, community governments can issue three levels of evacuation notifications.
The first is an evacuation notice, which advises that an emergency event may present an increased risk to a community. That is followed by an evacuation alert, which tells residents to get ready to leave on short notice, and finally an evacuation order, when residents should leave as soon as possible.
Tthets’éhk’édélı̨ First Nation lifted an evacuation alert for Jean Marie River on Friday.
On Monday, Hay River and Fort Simpson both issued fire bans within municipal boundaries due to dry conditions.
