Highway 3 reopens after fire at Yellowknife Airport

Highway 3 outside Yellowknife Airport has reopened after closing on Wednesday while emergency crews responded to a reported propane fire.

Smoke could be seen coming from the airport shortly after 9am on Wednesday. The Department of Infrastructure confirmed firefighters were working to bring a fire under control.

A spokesperson for the department said the fire was “at or near the propane facility.”

“The highway has since reopened. The cause remains under investigation,” said spokesperson Greg Hanna just before 10am.

Hannah said one runway had closed for 10 minutes while the other remained open. Two flights inbound from Edmonton were able to land in the 30 minutes after the fire was first reported.

Highway patrol, RCMP, highway maintenance staff, municipal fire crews, and airport fire crews all responded to the fire.

There are so far no reports of casualties.

A one-kilometre stretch of Highway 3, extending from the parking lot at Fred Henne Territorial Park past the airport, had been closed to traffic earlier on Wednesday morning.