Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jun 14/00) - Quick action by Prelude Lake area residents prevented the spread of a small forest fire there Monday night, but conditions remain ripe for more fires.

Lance Schmidt, territorial manager of forests for the North Slave region, said the 0.1 hectare fire was reported at about 7:30 p.m.

"We were lucky enough to have three residents respond to it," said Schmidt. "They essentially had it contained by the time we got to it."

That was the sixth fire reported in the region this spring. Three have burned in the bush along Highway 3, one about 10 kilometres from the community of Edzo.

"Just to give you an idea of what the wind will do, that fire was only about 150 feet wide but 1.8 kilometres long," said Schmidt. The daily fire hazard rating has been high to extreme for the last week.

"The fuels are just drying out daily," said Schmidt. "There's been maybe a false sense of what's going on in that it hasn't been warm, but we're still under fairly severe drought conditions for this time of year."

The six fires are either under control or out. Schmidt said it is believed people were responsible for all of them, since there has been no recent reports of lightning in the area.

"People have to be more cautious, make sure those camp fires are out before they leave them," advised Schmidt.