Jason Unrau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (June 13/05) - According to Environment Canada, the northwest can expect above average temperatures this summer, which means fire crews could be in for a busy season.

"So far it has been pretty wet, but that can change," said Lawrence Lewis, acting regional forest manager with Environment and Natural Resources.

"I think we are going into a hotter, dryer spell this year."

According to Lewis, the "hot season," when the danger of fire can be rated in the extreme, is from mid-July through mid-August.

"But there'll be a gradual rise in fire danger over the next couple of weeks," he added.

With this in mind, regional materials manager Clayton Pielak is working hard with Delta fire crews to ready their equipment.

"We're getting ready for the dry season," he said, adding that things are busy at the Shell Lake Base Camp preparing extra stock for emergencies. "If other regions are short on equipment, they'll draw from us."

Inuvik has two crews on standby, while Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic maintain one crew each.

With relatively quiet seasons for the past two years, crews were dispatched to fight blazes in Fort Simpson and Hay River last year and to Kelowna, B.C., in 2003 to help quell the fires.