City: Thursday’s Yellowknife fire came from asphalt facility

The City of Yellowknife says the fire which generated a noticeable smoke plume on Thursday originated at the Ace Enterprises quarry on Curry Drive.

In a statement, the City said firefighters “noted a large amount of smoke and flame coming from an asphalt processing facility” after 12pm on Thursday.

“All workers were cleared from the area as a result of reports of large amounts of combustible liquids on scene,” said the City’s news release issued later that day.

The fire required a full group alert, which calls in all off-duty and paid on-call firefighters. Fire crews managed to extinguish the fire, the statement read, once it had “burned down to a tolerable level.”

No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the territory’s fire marshal.

Correction, August 13 – 9:03 MT. This article initially stated the fire occurred on Friday, whereas it actually took place on Thursday. This is all the more embarrassing as Thursday was the birthday of the author’s father, so you’d think that date would have been at least somewhat memorable, but apparently not.