Fort Simpson fire: Crews report progress in more helpful conditions

A spot fire on the north of Fort Simpson’s island has been extinguished and wildfire FS016 hasn’t affected airport or ferry landing infrastructure, NWT Fire said at 5pm on Sunday.

“Controlled ignitions carried out yesterday and today removed fuel along the western side of the airstrip to ensure wildfire did not impact critical infrastructure,” the wildfire agency stated in a written update.

No homes have been reported lost to the wildfire even while it burns in subdivisions south of the main village. On Sunday, air tankers focused on the fire’s flank west of the snye that runs along the village island, hoping to limit the chance of more spot fires in the community.

Meanwhile, the Village of Fort Simpson demanded that any non-essential personnel leave the community on transportation that will leave the recreation centre on Monday at noon. “This will be the last transportation to be arranged,” the village said as it renewed a local state of emergency.

Firefighters had expected Sunday to bring more helpful conditions but an ongoing battle to protect some homes from FS016.

The fire reached residential areas south of the main village over the past couple of days and remains embedded in those areas, even though no homes have been reported lost.

Fire information officer Forrest Tower called that a “continual challenge” that requires around-the-clock patrols in affected neighbourhoods.

“Fire completely moved across those areas and burned down essentially to the Liard River in several areas. There are trees that have been on fire that are still smouldering,” Tower said on Sunday morning.

“Wild Rose and Gill Crescent will be basically where all of our resources are today,” he said, referring to neighbourhoods south the main village.

“We will likely have skimmers and air tankers up again as needed, and we’ve been able to have our helicopters flying every day.

“We still have favourable winds in terms of it’s not moving toward the town, so it’s moving south away. So that’s helpful.”

The fire burned south for much of Saturday toward Fort Simpson’s airport. No airport infrastructure was affected, Tower said, and the situation did not appear to meaningfully change on Sunday.

“Structure protection crews are patrolling, managing sprinklers, working if there’s any hot spots or areas that are more actively on fire near structures. Those guys will deal with that and the wildland firefighters are working more in the tree lines, trying to limit any spread,” Tower said.

Cooler temperatures and favourable winds may stick around for at least the next couple of days, although Tower warned that any shift in the wind could cause new problems and the fuel in the area is already extremely dry.

FS016 is “as close to structures as it can be without them burning down, and that’s the challenge for structural firefighters,” he said.

“I don’t mean that all the trees in that area are on fire, but there will be areas of grass, or it might get into firewood piles and start to catch on fire, so they just have to continually patrol and move around and put out things that catch on fire.

“They might go past someone’s house four or five times, no fire, and then on the sixth time, when they come around, there’s something on fire in their yard that they have to go deal with.”