Environment and Natural Resources rating is moderate

Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, July 10, 2014

INUVIK
While much of the rest of the Northwest Territories burns and swelters, the Inuvik region has been experiencing a mixture of somewhat cloudy and wet summer conditions.

The current forest fire danger in the region is moderate, which is good news compared to the parts of the southern NWT which have been seriously threatened by what's being called the worst fire season in years.

The current fire rating for the area is moderate. That might surprise some people, considering the volume of rain that has come down in the last two weeks, but it's also been sandwiched between some hot weather around Canada Day.

Inuvik Fire Chief Jim Sawkins said he's comfortable with the situation as it stands in the region, although he's not the primary authority dealing with the rating.

"Personally I don't think that there is a problem with the fire rating around Inuvik, given the recent amount of rain we've had," Sawkins said July 5.

"However, having said that, ENR (the Department of Environment and Natural Resources) has the equipment to set the fire rating. My opinion is based on what I see, not what the testing tells me."

Sawkins is also the president of the NWT Fire Chief's Association.

"As for my position on the NWT Fire Chief's Association, all has been quiet. In my role as emergency management co-ordinator, I did receive a call regarding our state of readiness to receive evacuees should the need arise."

If that call came in to house evacuees from further south, the town is ready to accommodate them, he said.

Brenda Norris, the media liaison for the premier and cabinet, didn't comment directly on the conditions in Inuvik region but directed the Inuvik Drum to the nwtfire.com website, which lists the current conditions and is available to the public.

It's been two years almost to the day the last time a forest fire presented a serious threat to Inuvik.

Two fires were burning about 12 kilometres outside of Inuvik at that time.