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Fort Simpson’s mayor described wildfire FS016 outside the village as “resting” on Tuesday morning after completing a lap of the community to find it untouched.
Les Wright told Cabin Radio shortly after 8am that “a few spots where embers fell” were smouldering within a kilometre of the village, but otherwise the fire had stopped a kilometre to a kilometre and a half away.
The mayor said 12 to 20 people who had previously remained in the village are now keen to leave and arrangements to facilitate that are being made.
The village has been under an evacuation order since Sunday over the nearby fire, which erupted to life during Monday evening’s peak burn period but did not progress into the community overnight as firefighters had feared might happen.
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“It just got lucky yesterday when the wind changed,” said Wright. “It was looking bad, and now it looks much better, We’ve got this wind for three days in this direction, and hopefully we can fight this flank to lessen the burden on the community.”
NWT Fire concurred that the village had been fortunate to escape damage.
“We got a really lucky break last night, but the threat by no means is completely gone,” said FS016 fire information officer Forrest Tower, adding the good news is firefighters now have much better access from the highway to the fire’s leading edge.
In a 10am update, the village said its landfill had been “impacted by the fire” and was being assessed. Otherwise, the village stated, the lower temperatures brought by the cold front that arrived late Monday mean crews now face a “less intense” fire and can get more done.
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On Monday evening, some of the last residents to leave the community did so in a nightmare drive through otherwise closed roads lined in parts by wildfires. Those who stayed behind were ordered to shelter in place. (That order was cancelled on Tuesday morning, though the broader evacuation order remains.)
While the fire’s early-evening eruption died down before reaching the village, concern remained heading into the night that outlying areas next to the forest could be vulnerable. Crews were placed to defend structures where possible in the Wildrose and Bannockland sections of the community.
As of 9:30am on Tuesday, Highway 1 had reopened from the Liard River ferry crossing east but remained closed from the ferry landing’s west bank to Wrigley. Highway 7 has also reopened.
In an 8:15am video from Gill Crescent on the village’s southern edge, Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation Chief Kele Antoine described some nearby smouldering areas but pointed out structure protection work and said the situation “looks good over here for now.”
Majority of Wrigley evacuates
In Wrigley, where an evacuation order was issued on Monday, the fire did not meaningfully advance on the community overnight.
Fort Simpson residents have been assigned to Yellowknife as their evacuation hub. Wrigley residents were flown to Fort Smith.
Late on Monday evening, Pehdzéh Kı̨ First Nation Chief Jamie Moses said 58 people remain in Wrigley, which ordinarily has a population of around 135. The Town of Fort Smith said it had 59 registered evacuees.
“We had a downpour. Now the visibility has improved, but we still have strong north wind so that’s always a concern until this fire is out,” Chief Moses wrote.
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The weather in the Dehcho is set to cool slightly in the coming days with a chance of showers, though that doesn’t fully remove the wildfire-related risk.
“We’re expecting a bit of a cold front,” said Wrigley fire information officer Shannon Graf on Monday.
“The thing to keep in mind with the cold front is a wee bit more wind, so that’s where day to day, hour to hour, we keep evaluating things and determining when it’s safe to go in and where we can make the biggest difference.”
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If you’re an evacuee from Fort Simpson or Wrigley, we’d like to hear from you. You can use this form to contact our reporting team.
