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DELINE - This morning, as a forest fire raged just north of Deline, the community declared a state of emergency and was forced to evacuate 94 residents to Yellowknife.

Deline is located on the western shore of Great Bear Lake 544 km northwest of Yellowknife.

The first evacuation flight, carrying elders, people with respiratory problems and their escorts, left for Yellowknife at just past 2:30 a.m. on Monday morning. Six planes were needed to transport the priority evacuees from the community of 600 people.

Fire crews have since made headway and the blaze is no longer considered a threat to the community, according to senior administrative officer Christina Gaudet.

A helicopter and firefighting crew are on site to fight the out of control fire, which was sparked by lightning at 5 p.m. Sunday night. It had grown to 150 hectares in size an hour later.

Four water bombers, two air attack planes, five firefighting crews, three helicopters and an incident command team are all en route to the community, according to Judy McLinton, manager of public affairs and communications for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

They were expected to arrive in Deline at 3:30 p.m. today.

Gaudet assembled the community's emergency operations committee last night while the local health centre began contacting residents on the evacuation priority list at 8:30 p.m. to put them on stand-by.

A state of emergency was declared just past midnight.

Gaudet said the community is no longer at an immediate risk and at 11 a.m. today shut down the emergency operations committee.

"If the winds change then I'll call the committee back," she said, adding, "Everybody has calmed down."

Gaudet credits their swift action to the fact the community has been practising their emergency responses for the past two months.

"The community has shown so much support through this time of need. Nobody was panicking. Everybody just had a cool sense and it just went smoothly," she said.

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