SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Fire season started out intense and early in the North Slave region but tapered off in July when the rain hit, according to the manager of forests for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the North Slave.

Arnie Schreder, chief pilot for Buffalo Air, said, with only five fires in the North Slave Region, 2009 was the slowest forest fire season he's ever experienced. This year, however, the number of fires in the region has jumped up to 69, which falls into the normal range of 60 to 70 fires the region usually faces. - NNSL file photo

"Usually our fire season, in the North Slave anyway, doesn't start until the third week in June or the first week in July," said Roger Fraser.

"By June 3 we were already fighting fire which is very unusual, and (the height of the season) lasted for the whole month of June."

Fraser said it was so dry in June that "walking in the bush was just like walking on cornflakes" but then in July, and for the rest of the season, regular rainfall gradually diminished the amount of fires firefighters had to contend with.

There were a total of 69 fires in the North Slave region, which fell right in line with the average of 60 to 70 fires per year – except last year, which Fraser called "exceptional," as there were only five fires throughout the season. There were a total of 224 fires in the NWT which was also in line with the yearly average of about 230.

Of the 69 fires in the North Slave, five were caused by humans.

"Some people maybe stopped in a boat to have a shore lunch and then just leave the fire going," said Fraser.

"It's really frustrating when we're busy with fires and we get some of these people who are careless and leave their fire going."

Fraser said the fires were controllable for the most part, but many happened right near communities, particularly between Yellowknife and Behchoko.

"A big band of lightning went through there a few times and caused us a lot of fires, right close to the communities," said Fraser. Lightning was the cause of 61 fires this season.

He said the firefighters had to be vigilant in fighting these, as they were close to not only the communities but infrastructure such as power lines.

"If they were further out we wouldn't have maybe fought as many as we did fight," said Fraser.

There were some large fires near Lutsel K'e, he said, which the firefighters just made sure didn't travel north or infringe on caribou habitats.

"We do try to fight in the areas where the caribou winter," said Fraser.

"In the past we didn't but in the last couple years (since the drop in caribou population) we've been concentrating more on areas where caribou feed."

Three fires are still burning south of Lutsel K'e, but Fraser said they are not spreading. They are being monitored by the firefighters, and are mostly just smoke at this point. The fire season is usually over around the end of September.

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