KA'A'GEE TU/KAKISA
The immediate danger may be over, but the residents of Kakisa won't soon forget the forest fire that threatened their community.

An Air Tractor water bomber, one of four brought in from B.C., releases water to help control the fire near Kakisa last week. - photo courtesy of Linda Croft

All of the community's residents, approximately 50 people, voluntarily evacuated Kakisa June 27 because of a forest fire that was approximately seven kilometres south of the settlement at the time. With the fire no longer a threat, residents were allowed to start returning July 4.

Everyone had returned by July 7, said Chief Lloyd Chicot, but the memory of the evacuation was still raw.

"It will still be a while before people get over it," he said.

Most of the community members spent the week of the evacuation in Hay River. Some stayed at hotels, but the community made the decision to try and remain together as much as possible with many people staying at the community hall at the Don Stewart Recreation Centre.

"We were very uncomfortable," said Chicot.

That feeling was especially strong in Kakisa's elders as a result of being away from their community.

"They were upset," he said.

People were worried about their homes as well as the community cemetery. The fire did come close.

Chicot said there's evidence of the fire coming within approximately 20 metres of a garage which was only 20 metres from a house. No buildings, however, were damaged by the fire that grew to 600 square-kilometres in size.

Chicot thanked the fire crews that worked with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

"They really saved the community here," he said.

"We're really thankful they were here."

At the peak, 50 firefighters from the NWT, Alberta and Saskatchewan were working on the Kakisa fire along with 20 emergency firefighters. They were led by an incident command team made up of staff from the NWT and Alberta, said Judy McLinton, a spokesperson with the department, which also had two CL-215 water bombers, six helicopters and four land-based water bombers from B.C. on the fire.

On July 7, resources including the equipment and crews, were being released from the fire.

Measures taken by crews including back burns, in addition to calmer fire behaviour, allowed staff to make good progress on the fire over the weekend, she said.

The command team is now planning for the next steps including cleanup from the fire. Chicot said there's lots of work to be done.

Community members have been advised to stay out of the surrounding forest until there have been a few good wind storms to knock over partially burned trees.

The community will also be doing more FireSmart work, something they had already undertaken before the fire, which is designed to minimize the risk to communities and properties from fires.

Evidence of the fire could still be seen on Monday. Helicopters were continuing to fly over the community and the fire was still smoldering in areas on all four sides of Kakisa.

"There's a lot of smoke all around us," said Chicot.