Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Thursday, August 09, 2007

Deh Cho - A mixed fire season is winding down in the Deh Cho and South Slave regions.

In the Deh Cho region, which covers all communities except Kakisa and Fort Providence, there have been a below average number of fires.

As of Aug. 7 there had only been 32 forest fires in the region compared to 80-100 in a normal year, said Loyal Letcher, manager of forests for the Deh Cho region for Environment and Natural Resources. This is the second slow year in a row for the region. Last year there were only 21 fires.

"It's been a slow season," said Letcher.

The busiest part of the season was in mid June when extremely dry conditions and lightning strikes led to 17 fires around the Deh Cho in nine days. Since then there have only been one or two new fires, said Letcher.

Most of the credit for the low number of fires can be given to Mother Nature and all the rain she's supplied, he said. The significant amounts of rain suppressed fires and although there were lots of lightning strikes, they were in wet areas.

"If the drying trend had continued we would have been very worried," Letcher said.

Credit for the slow season can also be given to campers.

While many other regions in the Northwest Territories had a lot of fires caused by humans there were none in the Deh Cho this season.

"It's a positive sign," said Letcher.

Campers should be thanked for doing a good job in extinguishing their fires, he said.

To wrap up the season, staff are mapping and calling out any remaining fires that aren't producing visible smoke. As of Aug. 6, there were six remaining fires being monitored. The total 32 fires have affected 1,943.63 hectares in the region.

With the season ending, fire towers and bases are being closed down and fire crews are finishing their contracts.

On Aug. 2 the Wrigley and Trout Lake bases and the Mount Gaudet fire lookout were closed.

The crews in Wrigley and Trout Lake also ended their seasons. On Aug. 10, the Fort Liard base and two crews are scheduled to be done for the season and the remaining fire towers including the Liard tower, the Lone Mountain tower and the Trout Lake tower will be closed.

The final two Nogha crews in Fort Simpson will be finished on Aug. 17 followed by the rest of the seasonal staff on Aug. 24.

"We're not anticipating any crew extensions this year," said Letcher.

With few fires, the season has been a slow one for local crews.

"It was kind of a slow season for everyone because of the rain," said Gilbert Cazon, the chief operating officer for Nogha Enterprises.

Nogha fire crews were only exported out of the territory once, when they went to Thunder Bay, Ont. at the beginning of the season.

All other exports were done regionally to the South Slave and North Slave regions to help in Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Hay River and Lutsel K'e.

In the South Slave region, which covers seven communities including Kakisa and Fort Providence, the fire season has been relatively normal, said Richard Olsen, manager of forests for the region.

In the Hay River area there have been 27 fires, which is a normal number, said Olsen. Twenty-five of the fires have been called out and the remaining two are being monitored.

Over the season there were five fires near Kakisa. The fires developed in late June approximately 20 kilometres outside of the community and were all fought.

The conditions along the ridge near the community were drier than other areas, leading to the fires, said Olsen.

There were only two fires near Fort Providence. One fire was lit by a person in the Fort Providence campground in June. The second fire was near Caen Lake in early July and officials suspect a human started it, Olsen said.

In addition to an average season, the three fire crews with Evergreen Forestry Management Ltd. had the chance to assist with studies being conducted by the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC).

Researchers set fire to designated plots of trees to study fire behaviour under different conditions. The crews assisted with prepping the areas before the burn, working during the fires and mopping up afterwards. The work gave the crews exposure to more fire theory.

"It's a really good education tool for them," said Olsen.

Findings from the studies will be used to provide communities with more information on how to protect themselves from wildfires, Olsen said.