Advertisement.
Wildfire FS016 did not reach the village of Fort Simpson during its peak burning period on Monday evening but winds associated with a cold front could drive further change overnight, officials said.
Remaining residents who did not evacuate were ordered to shelter in place early on Monday evening as firefighters braced for the worst-case scenario of FS016 reaching the island village.
While photos and video footage showed an apocalyptic orange skyline and roaring flames visible in the distance, fire information officer Forrest Tower said the fire’s extreme behaviour had dropped off before it could reach any buildings.
As of 10:30pm, the fire had reached Highway 1 west of the main village but was about half a kilometre from any residential areas at its nearest – Gill Crescent, southeast of the central village area.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“We still have a long time to go into the night with other winds picking up, but at this point – for the town site itself – there’s no ember cast happening right now into the community. Where there is some concern still is up into the subdivision, the Wild Rose area,” Tower said at 8:30pm.
NWT Fire cautioned at 11pm: “Overnight wind driven fire activity is likely.”
Crews were positioned overnight in those areas to try to prevent any damage.
Heavy smoke grounded firefighting aircraft in the region on Monday afternoon, while the fire’s behaviour has been too risky for any ground crews to tackle it for the past three days.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
NWT Fire said crews will protect homes “where it is safe to do so” if the fire moves into the village.
“There are limited suppression actions that can be taken unless the fire progresses closer to Highway 1 near Fort Simpson,” the wildfire agency stated earlier on Monday.
Highway 1 east of the community remained officially closed into the night, though some late-departing residents managed to get through the fire-hit highway and out to safety in Jean Marie River and beyond.
Before the highway closed, the village had urged anyone left to leave.
NWT Fire had been closely watching how the wind would change later on Monday as a cold front moved across the region. The potential existed for strong wind gusts and a change in wind direction that threatened to move the fire toward the community. On Monday morning, it had been about seven kilometres away from the airfield.
Fort Simpson’s evacuation order was given on Sunday evening. Flights carrying evacuees touched down in Yellowknife in the early hours of Monday as other people started to arrive in the NWT’s capital after an overnight drive.
Initial reports suggested the evacuation had proceeded about as smoothly as could be hoped, though lines for the Liard River ferry were long. The ferry, which can ordinarily move about 60 vehicles an hour and was a known bottleneck for any evacuation, had been set up to run through the night, moving people off the island to safety.
Boeing 737 jets arrived from Alberta late on Sunday, joining Air Tindi in ferrying evacuees from the Dehcho village of 1,300 people to Yellowknife.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“The last evacuation flight has now departed Fort Simpson. It has been a long and emotional day, and I am grateful that so many people were able to get out safely,” Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation Chief Kele Antoine wrote at 1:45am on Monday.
“Tonight, there is a small reason for hope. The skies have begun to clear, and the winds have once again gently pushed the smoke plume away from our community. We continue to pray that these conditions hold and that our firefighting crews can build on today’s hard work.”
The Village of Fort Simpson warned people who chose to remain that there is “no guarantee” any stores will remain open.
“All provisions will be for emergency services personnel,” the village stated. “Power services may be disrupted. Trucked water and pump-out services will not be available. If you remain in town there will be no support.”
Chief Antoine expressed regret that, as he understood it, one or two flights had left Fort Simpson mostly empty. He urged holdouts to leave the community.
Fort Simpson’s health centre has moved to emergency on-call services only, the NWT’s health authority said, saying that would be similar to the service offered on weekends and holidays.
At Yellowknife’s multiplex, the reception centre for evacuees, registration began overnight. Evacuees receive a neon green wristband that provides access to cots, meals and showers.
Get in touch
If you’re an evacuee or are still in Fort Simpson, we’d like to hear from you. You can use this form to contact our reporting team.
