Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Aug 14/98) - The summer of 1998 has been kind to the Deh Cho region in terms of forest fires.

No communities have been seriously threatened or residents forced to evacuate, like those in Salmon Arm, B.C. Although the potential for forest fires should not be understated, the second week of August is generally when the threat begins to diminish, according to Dave Hahn, duty officer at the territorial forest fire centre in Fort Smith.

For the most part, the number of fires and the intensity of the flames aren't as great due to shorter days and gradually decreasing temperatures. Consequently, lichens and leaf litter on the forest floor begin to absorb moisture.

"They now become more into the realm of our ability to be very successful when we go out and go after them," Hahn said.

Although the exact number of hectares burned in the Deh Cho region isn't known at this time, an employee from the Forest Fire Centre will collaborate with Daniel Allaire, manager of forests for the Deh Cho, to map out the extent of ground consumed by fires in this region.

The closest fires to a Deh Cho community occurred earlier in the summer when a number were burning near Wrigley. Three weeks ago, a rash of fires were raging around Trout Lake, but no lives or dwellings were lost in either situation.

Overall, 1,272,666 hectares of forest had been burned across the entire NWT as of Tuesday. The total number of fires had climbed to 376. Eighty-three of those have started in the area between Wrigley, Fort Simpson, Jean Marie River and Trout Lake.

Hahn noted that the forest management division's utmost concern is saving lives, but their strategy has changed in recent years, as they are no longer concerned with extinguishing each blaze post-haste to preserve every hectare of land.

"Lightning has always started fires and fires have always burnt forest. Many of the tree species literally depend on fire for the release of their seeds and renewal of the forest," he explained.

The Wrigley area seems to be the site of the majority of fires in the region and Hahn speculated that may be because of aging forest that is most susceptible to burning.