Fire season flares back up
Deh Cho communities threatened by wildfires
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
TTHEK'EHDELI/JEAN MARIE RIVER
Jean Marie River narrowly avoided evacuation on Sunday after a small lightning fire blew up into a 100-acre raging forest fire.
Tyrone Sanguez captured this shot just before leaving Jean Marie River on July 29. Many residents voluntarily evacuated the community for a day while a forest fire burned directly across from the community on the opposite bank of the Mackenzie River. - photo courtesy of Tyrone Sanguez
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Loyal Letcher, manager of forests for the Deh Cho region, said Tuesday that the community was still under threat and the fire, which is about four kilometres west, was still burning out of control.
"It was going straight at the community. It was a rank four or five fire, which means it's starting to crown and it has black smoke. It was quite intense but we managed to get two CL-15 tanker groups and supergroups of three water bombers that skimmed right off the Mackenzie River," Letcher said.
"Jean Marie River is a high priority for us right now. We're up to 69 fires (in the Deh Cho) now, most of them are burning out of control. We're trying to protect our values, and our communities are number one other than human life."
The fire response also had a DC-4 tanker, four helicopters and three initial attack crews at the fire on Sunday.
"We managed to knock it down, and now we've managed to get another 50 men on the fire line and four helicopters," Letcher said.
On Tuesday afternoon, NWT Fire reported the fire had made a run away from Jean Marie River on Monday night and was sitting at 231 hectares in size.
Gail Sanguez, with the band office, said the community was told Sunday that an evacuation may happen. However, after fire suppression efforts, she has not heard anything further and community members are not being asked to be on alert for evacuation.
"We do have quite a bit of smoke in the community, though. Some of the people are getting headaches and sore throats; they've been told to stay indoors," she said.
Jean Marie River "isn't out of the fire yet," Letcher said. The blaze is part of a complex of fires that include three around Antoine Lake and could also threaten Fort Simpson.
Fort Simpson, Kakisa also under threat
The majority of fires in the Antoine Lake complex are about 18 nautical miles south of the Fort Simpson Airport, Letcher said. With south-southwest winds prevailing in the region, that could cause issues for Fort Simpson.
Letcher said three fires in the area are burning out of control. As of Monday afternoon, one was six hectares and one was 110 hectares. Additionally, two fires had merged into one that was measured Sunday night at more than 5,000 hectares.
"It's such a large fire that we can't do a direct attack with our firefighters. We're looking at indirect attack options right now," Letcher said.
"We have an incident commander and an ignition specialist looking at things right now and making up a plan."
Letcher said Simpson is not under immediate threat, but there is potential for danger if the wrong weather conditions occur.
"My big concern is Wildrose Acres and Nogha Heights because they're kind of on the urban interface and they're right in the bush," Letcher said.
"I'm not necessarily worried about a direct, full-frontal fire coming into town, but my big concern is a large fire that will rain down millions of embers on people's houses and roofs. That's what will start homes on fire."
On Monday evening, a fire near Kakisa burned all the way to the gravel pit, according to the Kakisa band office.
Anita Chicot said Monday night was a late one for concerned community members who feared a repeat of last year's fire.
"We didn't realize how fast the fire was (moving)," she said. "It jumped the road, too, so we were kind of concerned (Monday) night. It was so smoky here."
Chicot said the fire died down after a heavy rainfall Tuesday morning, but once the sun came out later in the day, the fire began to pick up again.
On June 26, the GNWT announced a fire ban was in place for Sambaa Deh Falls Territorial Park, Blackstone Territorial Park and Fort Providence Territorial Park. Camp stoves and enclosed barbecues are permitted, as well as propane devices, but must be used within a fire pit. The fire cannot be more than a half-metre in diameter and height.
