Hwy 3 shut down to fight fire
Blaze located about 50 km south of Behchoko
Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Monday, June 1, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Department of Transportation shutdown Highway 3 from Behchoko to Fort Providence Friday while firefighters worked to prevent a nearby wildfire from reaching the road.
Fire inches close to Highway 3 at kilometre 128 between Behchoko and Fort Providence in July of last year. Flames and smoke closed the highway intermittently throughout the summer. - photo courtesy of Department of Transportation |
Crews undertook an ignition operation, in which they set a controlled burn to try to limit the spread of the fire, located about 50 kilometres south of Behchoko.
The highway was closed for about 11 hours.
"The burnout operation went as planned and crews are now in the process of mopping up the control line," stated Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) forest officer Janice Ziemann in an email to News/North Saturday.
As of Friday, 35 fires were burning in the NWT.
A total of 46 fires have been reported this season and 40,000 hectares of forest has burned.
Last year at this time only three or four fires had been reported.
The busiest region for wildfires is the Deh Cho, which is dealing with 20. Firefighters are actively working on four of them - three around Trout Lake and one outside Fort Liard.
They are also fighting a fire burning north of Fort Providence.
"Then there are (four) other fires that we're doing value protection on," said Richard Olsen, fire operations manager for the ENR.
"We have sprinklers or other plans in place to deal with things in case the fires become an imminent risk for those values."
None of the fires in the NWT are currently threatening any communities, he added.
The driest areas in the territory are north of Fort Providence and south of Behchoko, said Olsen. In both areas the drought code has approached or passed 500.
The drought code measures the dryness of an environment based on air temperature, precipitation and humidity.
Last summer, the drought code reached more than 1,000 in certain areas. When conditions are that dry, fires burn deeply and intensely. Such conditions allowed the Birch Lake complex - six fires that joined together between Fort Providence and Behchoko - to grow to 7,549.66 square
kilometres last year.
But ENR is taking precautions to avoid a repeat of the previous fire season, which cost the territory $56.1 million.
"Any new fires, we're being a little more careful in terms of which ones we're going to respond to within the limits of the resources we have," said Olsen.
The department also ensured fire crews were trained and prepped early
and have deployed 27 of 28.
"At this point in time we've pretty much manned up all our aircraft and human resources in advance of what we normally would," said Olsen.
Plans are underway to train more EFFs (extra firefighters) in all regions by mid-June.
More than 100 residents have signed up, said Olsen.
There's been some added interest in the training this year, particularly in Inuvik, he said.
"It's a good development tool for people to see if they like the kind of work in the first place because it is hard work.
It's sort of like a stepping stone for the lucky ones who get the opportunities to move into more seasonal positions or other full-time positions or maybe it even sparks an interest in them working for ENR as an officer down the road kind of thing."
The department is encouraging property owners and communities to protect their assets. For instance, cabin owners should thin and prune the wilderness around their property and have a way to communicate with emergency responders about fires burning in their area.
Olsen had advice for people who are planning to spend time out on the land this summer as well.
"If (they're) going out on the land, if (they) need to light a fire to keep themselves warm or to cook, that they really consider that need in the first place," said Olsen.
"And if they do need to do it that they pick the right spot for their fire, they make sure it's in a good fire pit and it's not going to spread into the forest. And when they leave they make sure it's absolutely out. If you hover above it and you feel any kind of heat then it's definitely not out."
Fires burning in Alberta forced residents of Wabasca, Big Stone Cree First Nation, Slave Lake and Mortonville out of their homes last week but evacuation orders have since been lifted.
Wildfires have also led companies, including Cenovus Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., to suspend or reduce production on oil sands projects.
As of May 28, there were 45 wildfires burning in the territory, with 10 considered to be out of control.
The Yukon is also seeing an overactive wildfire season
with a fire count that has already surpassed last year's total of 32.
-With files from Meagan Leonard
