Children flee flames
Camp for foster children evacuated after fire
breaks out along Ingraham Trail
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Monday, July 18, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Nineteen youth and staff at a summer camp for foster children were forced to flee a fire that rapidly developed along the Ingraham Trail Thursday evening.
Trucks line up at a barricade on Highway 4, waiting to reach cabins and campsites further up the road Thursday night. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
Tammy Roberts, executive director of the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT, said a staff member at Camp Connections called her after spotting smoke Thursday at 6 p.m. Roberts told staff to begin pack up and prepare to leave.
After climbing a hill to get a better look, the staff member called and told her flames were visible. Seven minutes after the first call, the children and staff fled the area by vehicle, leaving various possessions behind.
The staff member drove past flames along the side of the highway in a stand of trees, according to Roberts.
"Our main concern was making sure that the kids got out and that the staff got out," she told News/North on Friday, describing the evacuation as an organized flight.
"The staff did an amazing job at keeping our campers calm," she said. The children, aged 12 to 14 from around the territory, stayed in foster homes in the city after leaving the camp.
The fire was first reported on the north side of the highway near kilometre marker 56, and had covered an estimated one square kilometre by Friday morning, resulting in evacuations and the closure of Highway 4.
There are also private cabins in the area. There was no confirmation about damage to any properties in the area as of Friday.
"As far as we know, we haven't lost any structures," Roberts said of Camp Connections.
There were three four-person Environment and Natural Resources fire crews, air tankers, an Electra aircraft, helicopters fighting the fire overnight to protect properties. The Yellowknife fire department also responded and helped fight the fire with a five-person crew and pumper truck, though no one from the city was available to provide further details Friday.
Wind blowing from the northeast helped fan flames that soon crossed the highway where the summer camp is located. A photo taken Thursday from the air shows smoke billowing up from both sides of the highway just past the Cameron River day use area.
The highway was closed to traffic going eastward at kilometre marker 49 on Thursday evening. Several trucks, some carrying young children and pets, were parked there waiting for the road to reopen.
While none of those waiting wanted to be interviewed, they were waiting to get to cabins or back to the Reid Lake campground.
It was unclear at press time when the highway could reopen to allow people to return to check camps, cabins and parks.
"We just want to get out there and see for ourselves," Roberts said about Camp Connections.
No damage was reported at the Reid Lake campground which was closed and evacuated Thursday evening, according to Briony Wright, spokesperson with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Seasonal residents and campers beyond kilometre marker 49 on the highway including the Reid Lake, Pickerel Lake, Cameron Falls, Tibbitt Lake, and Cameron River areas were asked to evacuate, a GNWT emergency update released Friday morning stated.
RCMP were notifying those in cabins and homes in the area of the fire and the need to leave.
The GNWT activated its emergency management centre to co-ordinate efforts to deal with the fire.
The fire season in the territory began fairly quietly this summer, with the most notable early fire happening near Madeline Lake in May. However, as drier conditions prevailed into July, fires - mostly started by lightning - popped up around the territory.
One of the most notable fires in the North Slave prior to Thursday's blaze was one about 65 kilometres north of Behchoko near the Snare Hydro Dam that was approaching a runway used to service the power generation facilities in the area.
The Snare system, which includes several hydro power plants, generates electricity for Behchoko, Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah.
An intentionally set fire had been started to try and contain the fire burning near the Snare system. That controlled burn blanketed Yellowknife with smoke Thursday evening, turning the sun an orange-red colour.
