Fort Simpson is being evacuated because of the threat of a nearby wildfire, with Yellowknife the primary host community. The order went out at 7:20pm.
Highway 7 is closed at Checkpoint heading south because of another fire, leaving Highway 1 east the only road route out. First, evacuees must cross the Liard River on a ferry with limited capacity.
The ferry will run through the night and gas stations in Fort Simpson will remain open around the clock. Yellowknife’s multiplex is the designated centre for evacuees.
Whether and how an airlift will commence is not yet fully clear, though the village had anticipated one would take place.
For live updates, scroll down.
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Fire FS016 was seven kilometres from the village airport and had reached 420 hectares in size by Sunday afternoon according to NWT Fire.
For most of the day, agencies had not indicated any change in its threat. However, late afternoon and early evening is peak burning time and local temperatures reached 33C.
Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation Chief Kele Antoine said on Sunday afternoon firefighters had been arriving in Fort Simpson from the Yukon, among other locations, and the village’s volunteer fire crew was working “tirelessly alongside everyone else to help protect our homes and community.”
Chief Antoine added fire FS014, between the Liard River ferry landing and Checkpoint intersection, has not yet crossed the highway. It continues to burn near the road.
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While that highway remained open as of 6pm, the Liard Highway south from Checkpoint was closed because of fire.
Much of Fort Simpson, population 1,300, is on an island, with a ferry connecting the community to the broader highway network.
On Saturday evening, the village’s mayor and council stated: “If an evacuation becomes necessary, Yellowknife will be the destination.”
Any evacuation was expected to take place by road and air. The local emergency management organization had planned for both.
According to the village, almost 500 people had pre-registered online for a possible evacuation by late Saturday.
More than 80 fires are burning across the NWT, a number that soared over the past 48 hours following widespread lightning on Friday and into Saturday.
Cooler weather, including periods of showers and rain, should reach the Dehcho in the days ahead.
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Live reporter: Ollie Williams in Yellowknife
All times MT, refresh for the latest
20:42 – A few people in Yellowknife have been in touch offering clothing and the like. So far, I have no firm information on where to donate those items. The city was clear that anyone looking to support evacuees should donate financially to the Salvation Army. If we get more advice regarding donations, we’ll share it.
20:39 – You can share this live reporting – and our wildfire map – on Facebook. Use these links to evade the Meta ban on news:
Live reporting: Copy and paste this into Facebook – https://cabinlinks.ca/r/553bad4007f7
Wildfire and highway map: Copy and paste this into Facebook: https://cabinlinks.ca/r/dd1a32df2c42
Don’t follow the links first and then copy, that won’t work. You need to copy the exact link above and paste that. It will pass through the news block.
20:33 – More from Lynn Canney, discussing a village that was already in mourning after the deaths of three people when a firefighting plane came down while fighting a fire about 50 km west of Fort Simpson:
“It feels like the last few days since that plane crash have been a month. Our hearts are with everyone with ECC and with Buffalo, who are still working as hard as they possibly can in the face of that tragedy,” said Canney.
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“We send them so much appreciation, and so much appreciation and love for our local fire department, and I understand the Hay River Fire Department has come to help out. To see those people mobilized once again for a Fort Simpson evacuation… I can’t say enough for those people, they have all of our appreciation.”
20:26 – It does sound like an airlift will begin although there’s no firm detail yet on when the first flights will arrive.
The village just put out a note stating anyone leaving by plane must “pack a smaller bag due to limited space” and cannot bring pets. If you need to leave a pet, register them at the rec centre and leave them with food. “We will be arranging for care,” the village stated.
20:23 – Direct quotes from fire information officer Forrest Tower:
“The issue is that [the fire] has grown roughly two kilometres northwest, and so we have a bit of a change in the weather forecast for tomorrow, and so it is now predicting or forecasting for some southwesterly winds.
“There is potential to push fire towards the community, as well as potentially the highway on either side, and so the evacuation order was recommended now, tonight, just recognizing that it takes quite a bit of time to evacuate Fort Simpson, since it’s by ferry for anyone driving, which would be everyone.
“If we have kind-of rapid fire growth towards the community tomorrow, [there] likely just wouldn’t be enough time to evacuate everyone – so I wouldn’t say this is precautionary per se, there is a very real threat that there is growth towards Fort Simpson, but it’s a bit of a complex evacuation process for them, so wanting to give as much time as possible to make that happen.
“It’s not getting really significantly closer, like it might be 500-600 metres closer. [The issue is] that tomorrow, if we do see those winds, there is real potential that it will start moving closer.
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“The other factor to consider is just getting structure protection and everything set up in time. It can be quite difficult to do that if we have everyone trying to evacuate.”
20:18 – My colleague Alice Twa has been speaking with Forrest Tower, the aptly named wildfire information officer who just arrived with a BC crew to help on the Simpson fire.
Full quotes coming shortly. here’s the TLDR from Alice: The fire was growing northwest of the community but the winds could change and send the fire toward Fort Simpson tomorrow or in the next few days, hence the evac order tonight because of the difficulty involved in evacuating from the island village.
Crews are working on the fire that’s caused the Highway 7 closure, Tower added, and there’s some uncertainty as to whether that closure is for outgoing traffic or just for traffic heading north. I’ve asked the Department of Infrastructure for information.
Crews may also start structure protection in the village, Tower said, and the next update from NWT Fire will come either tonight if there’s more detail or tomorrow at 9am or 10am.
20:14 – I asked Lynn Canney, in Fort Simpson, if she could detect a change in the fire in the past few hours: “We sure could. It got big, it got orange, and the smoke – there’s much more smoke than the last couple of days. And it’s a small town, so we hear things, we sense things. We kind-of hoped this wasn’t coming, but here we are.”
Lynn had just come back from the recreation centre, which is the main registration venue for the evacuation on the Simpson side (it’s the multiplex in Yellowknife). She said it was busy but people appeared to be “holding it together.”
Canney and her partner are staying behind to accommodate fire workers at their bed-and-breakfast. They’re sending their granddaughter to Yellowknife. They aren’t sure how long they’ll stay back.
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20:10 – I just spoke with Lynn Canney, a Fort Simpson resident. Veterans of our 2023 wildfire coverage will know we used her house as our emergency newsroom for three weeks, so here we are in a slightly odd reversal (the air conditioning in our newsroom is broken, Lynn, you’re not going to want to stay there). More from Lynn coming in a second about conditions in Fort Simpson.
20:04 – The City of Yellowknife confirms the multiplex will be the reception and lodging centre for evacuees. It is now closed to the public until further notice.
Fort Simpson evacuees: Registration will take place at the multiplex. The city will publish more details shortly.
Yellowknife residents: Day camps scheduled for the multiplex are moving to the fieldhouse. If you want to help evacuees, the city says you should donate money to the Salvation Army.
19:59 – For much of the day, the message from authorities was that fire FS016 hadn’t done a lot. However, late afternoon and evening is usually the most dangerous time for burning.
Of note, NWT Fire said it had expected weather in the area today that firefighters term “crossover conditions.” That means humidity drops lower than temperature, which equals fire weather when facing highs above 30C as in Fort Simpson today.
NWT Fire had expected highs of up to 35C and relative humidity of 20 percent, with gusts up to 30 km/h.
19:55 – From Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation Chief Kele Antoine:
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“Register at the Recreation Centre as directed by emergency management. Bring only essential items, including medications, identification, important documents, and your emergency go-bag.
“Follow the designated evacuation routes and instructions from emergency personnel. Check on Elders, family members, neighbours, and anyone who may need assistance evacuating.”
19:53 – Big River gas station in Fort Providence just told us it plans to remain open through the night to serve people driving to Yellowknife overnight, as long as staff can be found. We’ll keep you posted on that front.
The Liard River ferry will operate through the night. Earlier, the village said that will be one-way traffic – only vehicles leaving the village will be taken, nothing going the other way. No trailers are allowed at this point.
Gas stations in Fort Simpson will remain open throughout the night too, the village said.
The multiplex is the confirmed destination for evacuees, a village statement added. More info on that as I get it.
19:50 – This is the latest satellite hotspot imagery. You can get more detail on our map, including other fires.
19:43 – The City of Yellowknife is working on some materials that ought to help incoming Fort Simpson residents as well as inform Yellowknife residents about steps being taken. I’ve been in touch with staff at City Hall and we’ll bring you that as soon as we have it.
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19:36 – This is from the GNWT via NWT Alert: “Fort Simpson residents are required to evacuate the area immediately due to a wildfire. Evacuees must register at the recreation centre and will receive further instructions there.”
This is from the village: “The evacuation priority is the most at risk areas, i.e. Wild Rose. There are roadblocks posted at the Causeway (along Antoine Drive) and Wild Rose (Four Mile Access) to control traffic flow on the highway towards the ferry.
“Please leave space along roadways for first responders frequenting the highway. The ferry will be operating 24/7 and will only be bringing people away from the community (no incoming traffic). There will be additional wait-times at roadblocks and ferry as we try to get everyone across in a safe and efficient manner.
“We do not yet have a time of arrival for evacuation aircraft. If you plan to be evacuated by plane, please make your way to the Rec Centre for assignment to a manifest. The destination for evacuation is Yellowknife, details will follow once the exact reception centre is confirmed.
“You are responsible for your own safety on the highway – drive with caution and courtesy! Please ensure you have enough water, food, and fuel for yourself and your family. If you choose to stay in the community and do not evacuate – no resources will be allocated to you. Responders need to be able to focus on the incident at hand and will not be able to provide support to you if you remain in the community.”
19:33 – We just rolled out a combined fire and highways map. Use this to track fires and road updates courtesy of various government sources.
Extremely importantly, Highway 7 south at Checkpoint is closed. It closed about an hour ago because of another wildfire. Heading east from Simpson, your one available road is Highway 1 toward Hay River.
I’ll bring you more details about the village’s evacuation plan next.
19:28 – Welcome to live coverage, this is Ollie in Yellowknife. We’ll bring you what we have throughout the evening as Fort Simpson is ordered to evacuate.
