Derek Neary
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 03/98) - Two waterbombers put out a fire on a 10-hectare island on Prelude Lake near Yellowknife late Sunday afternoon.

The planes, which can hold almost 5,500 litres of water each, dropped 39 loads a piece to contain the fire, said air attack officer Ernie Campeau.

Those on the island were able to escape by canoe and were well away from the area when the two government-owned CL-215 waterbombers made their drops.

The Department of Resources was first notified of the blaze at 5:20 p.m., said Lance Schmidt, manager of forestry for the North Slave region. They were inundated with up to 20 phone calls from Yellowknife to Dettah and surrounding area, according to Schmidt.

"There was a lot of excitement from the people out there, definitely," he said.

With the early arrival of spring this year, a long, dry fire season is probable, Schmidt said, noting that conditions were already extreme Sunday.

"Unless we get a whole lot of rain, we're sort of three to four weeks ahead of (schedule)," he said.

Schmidt explained that "crowning" fires are already being spotted. Those tend to consume trees from the ground to the tips.

"That's pretty severe fire behavior for May or the first of June," he said.

Officials say the Prelude Lake fire was not started by nature.