Wildfire near Nahanni Butte brings smoke but isn’t yet a threat

Residents in Nahanni Butte are seeing and smelling smoke after a wildfire began around eight kilometres southwest of the community, near the South Nahanni River.

The new lightning-caused fire has been dubbed FS021 by the NWT government. Residents first reported heavy smoke on Wednesday evening, though wind cleared out much of the smoke on Thursday.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Thursday evening wildfire bulletin reported crews are actively working to control the fire, which is just under five hectares in size. The department said there is no current threat to the community.

Many fire bans in the NWT were lifted after the past week’s rain and lower temperatures, but ENR said the wildfire risk had begun to rise again in recent days.

Over the coming weekend, the wildfire danger forecast is expected to hover near “high” or “extreme” for the majority of the territory.