Norman Wells (July 28/03) - Despite a declared state of emergency, it was business as usual at the Yamouria Inn in Norman Wells Thursday, even as a forest fire continued to burn 18 kilometres from town.

"Nobody's in panic mode," said Daria Kubrakovich, the inn's manager, who attended a town meeting earlier that day to hear more details on the 1,800- hectare fire burning since last Monday.

"We're not running around with our hands up."

She said smoke from the blaze was barely detectable but that was due to change the next day when fire crews began a back burn to act as a buffer from the fire.

SAO Alec Simpson said the town's emergency response committee elected to evacuate some residents -- primarily the elderly, small children, and those suffering from respiratory illnesses -- on Thursday because the back burn was expected to create a lot more smoke.

All told, 92 left the community of 800 -- either to the Department of Defence's Forward Operating Location in Inuvik or to family and friends in other communities along the Mackenzie River. Others who were deemed to be at risk but decided to stay were asked to sign a waiver form.

Simpson said even though the fire is contained, the town decided to declare a local state of emergency in case events turned for the worse.

"That's just a technical thing," said Simpson.

"We can then do certain things that might be required by the EMO (Emergency Measures Operations). We can commandeer people, equipment, and purchase things, so on and so forth."

The fire started Monday evening after a lightning strike ignited a particularly combustible area of forest below a ridge north of the community. The fire quickly grew to 1,600 hectares by Tuesday but water tankers dispatched to fight the blaze were able to contain it quickly.

It's been smouldering but stationary ever since.

A major concern last week were the extremely high temperatures -- pushing past 30 C -- and lack of rain. If winds were to pick up, the fire may flare up and quickly advance towards town.

Hence the need to build a back burn, and quickly.

"This is a fire that poses a threat but is no immediate danger to us," said Celina Stroeder, regional superintendent for Resources, Wildlife, and Economic Development.

The plan called for the use of 10 front-end loader machines to clear a break a short distance from the fire and on Friday for a helicopter armed with a drip torch to ignite sections of forest floor 50 feet at a time.

There were also seven fire crews of five members each from several nearby communities on scene, although they have not been dispatched to fight the fire because it was deemed too dangerous. A fire behavioural specialist was also brought up from Edmonton to help figure out how best to fight the blaze.

Stroeder said she expected there to be a lot more smoke on Friday do to the back burn.

Premier Stephen Kakfwi was in Fort Good Hope Thursday, and remarked that he thought the town, RWED and fire crews were doing an excellent job containing the fire. He planned to visit the town the following day.

He recalled the last time a forest fire struck near the Wells in 1995 when the threat posed was much more significant.

That year, a fire broke out near Tulita, which resulted in residents being quickly evacuated to Norman Wells, only to be evacuated again after the fire began pushing south towards town.

"They sound very organized and confident," said Kakfwi.

"Very different from '95 when we had a similar situation (in Tulita)."