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A wildfire north of Wrigley has moved about a kilometre closer to the community, NWT Fire said on Thursday, as extreme fire weather returned to many parts of the territory.
Fire FS015 is now about 11 km from the community at its closest point, the territory’s wildfire agency said, after “significant growth” on Wednesday evening and overnight into Thursday.
In Fort Simpson, crews had to respond to a “20-hectare excursion” of fire FS016 on Wednesday and were facing dry, gusty conditions with temperatures topping 30C on Thursday, NWT Fire said.
More generally, the agency said, many fires “took runs under extreme fire weather conditions since yesterday.”
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Some 200 active fires are burning across the NWT, though most are in remote areas.
Fort Simpson and Wrigley have been under evacuation orders since the end of June. Community leaders have expressed optimism that conditions may be right for a return home soon, but fire crews must first get through a heatwave moving into the Dehcho region.
NWT Fire warned of “continued challenging weather ahead with a warming trend stretching from the Sahtu southward as we move into the weekend.”
