NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Cooler, damp weather over the past weeks have helped the forest-fire situation in both the South and North Slave region but it came too late for two property owners.
A lodge was lost to wildfires near Pilot Lake about 50 kilometres northeast Fort Smith, while three of four cabins burned at a trapper's camp near Piers Lake, also near Fort Smith.
No one was hurt in either fire which both occurred on the Aug. 12 to 13 weekend according to officials with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
They are believed to be the only structures lost to forest fires this summer in the NWT.
Frank Lepine, forest management director for ENR, said some out buildings at the lodge were saved. He added that the lodge owner escaped unharmed and there was no one at the trapper's camp at the time of the fire there.
"(Firefighters) were not dispatched to those areas. They didn't help with the situation. There were really high winds and those fires really grew on us, moved quickly and overwhelmed some of these areas," Lepine said.
"The lodge owner tried to fight the fire, unsuccessfully. We can't put a dollar value on the loss but they were valuable to the owners."
Attempts by News/North to contact the owners were unsuccessful
Myles Carter, owner/operator of Nonacho Lake Fishing Camp near the East Arm of Great Slave Lake said he hasn't heard from any ENR officials this summer despite fires being close enough to rain ash on his lodge.
He added his heart goes out to anyone who has lost their lodge to a forest fire.
"It's hard enough to run a lodge. You feel sorry for whoever that happened to. A lot of work goes into these places," Carter said.
"We're way out here by ourselves and kind of forgotten about in a way."
Richard Olsen, manager of fire operations for ENR, who is based in Fort Smith, said that an Alberta consulting company – Dennis Quintilio and Associates – is investigating both fires and how the buildings were burned.
"We are investigating as well. We will also bring in individuals who are trained to do this – look at the environmental and operational conditions that surrounded those events," Olsen said. "They'll do an analysis and come back to us to verify what likely caused these events and then with us make recommendations on ways we can improve from this. They came up late last week and are talking to individuals."
Quintilio and Associates completed a report on a forest fire last summer that destroyed Namushka Lodge on Harding Lake, northeast of Yellowknife. It was critical of ENR for its lack of communication with the lodge owners prior to the fire.
So far this summer, just over 10,000-square kilometres have been lost to wildfires in the NWT. There have been about 238 fires reported.
Some firefighters have been sent home for the season. The biggest fire in the territory this season continues to burn north of Fort Smith. Six fires actually grew together. That fire has burned about 5,000-square kilometres on its own.
