A wildfire along Highway 1 southeast of Wrigley has grown to 3,000 hectares in size but isn’t threatening the community, the NWT government says.
In an advisory on Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said suggestions the wildfire was approaching Wrigley are “false at this time.”
The ferry serving the N’Dulee crossing between Fort Simpson and Wrigley is out of service. The highway between the communities has been closed since Tuesday, when the wildfire – 40 km southeast of Wrigley – jumped the road.
“There are multiple fire crews on-site as well as an incident management team protecting cabins to the north and the houses at Willowlake River,” ENR stated.
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“There is also an air tanker group based in Fort Simpson attacking the fire from the air regularly.
“Over the coming days, we expect this wildfire to continue to grow with dry weather and smoke to remain heavy for a 10-km radius around the fire. Visibility on the open sections of highway remains poor.”
Data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows fire hotspots on both sides of Highway 1.
Residents are asked by the GNWT to follow its highway conditions map for updates.
