A wildfire in the Wood Buffalo National Park near a whooping crane nesting area has grown to 16,788 hectares, Parks Canada said in a Thursday update.
The fire, which began as about 270 hectares in size when it was discovered on May 22, is classified as out of control and had been showing extreme fire behaviour. It is 27 kilometres from Highway 5.
Between Wednesday and Thursday the fire grew almost 3,500 hectares in size on the southeast side said Parks Canada. The agency said ground crews were pulled from the southern side on Thursday, but bucketing from helicopters continued.
NWT Fire has said smoke from this fire may visible in Fort Smith, but Parks Canada said it does not threaten communities or infrastructure at this time.
The GNWT has set up sprinklers in the Grand Detour area and has helipads in-place “to assist in rapid structure protection efforts should the wildfire progress beyond the Park’s boundaries,” said NWT Fire Thursday.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Parks Canada said additional resources were brought to fire Wednesday, including a Parks Canada Incident Management Team and four additional Parks Canada fire crews.
Two new fires were reported in Wood Buffalo Thursday near Garden River and Isidore Lake, and both are classified as out of control.
NWT Fire had no new fires to report Thursday, and said “several satellite detection hits visible on public maps south of Hay River were scouted and no fires were found.”
