Five fires strike Deh Cho region
Cli Lake fire threatens cabins, lodge as weekend of flames sweeps region
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, June 16, 2016
DEH CHO
The second weekend in June saw five new fires spring up in the Deh Cho, marking the first fires for the region this summer.
Mike Gravel, the manager of forest management services for the territorial Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said four of the fires started after lightning strikes hit the region. A fifth fire was listed as person-caused.
"We're taking action on two of the four," Gravel said on June 13, referring to the lightning-caused fires.
"One of them is out. The other one, we continue to work to bring it under control."
The largest of the fires is about one square kilometre in size and is currently threatening Cli Lake, which is about 100 kilometres west of Fort Simpson as the crow flies.
Cli Lake is the site of numerous cabins, as well as a fishing lodge.
"There's cabins within five kilometres of the fire," Gravel said.
"There's quite a few (items of value including structures of worth), say within 20 kilometres of that fire, but the primary concern is within the five-kilometre area. We don't anticipate problems protecting those values at this time."
The Cli Lake fire is currently being held and is not spreading toward or away from the cabins, he said.
Currently, the department has water bombers and a land-based Electra tanker working on the fire, with crews in helicopters present as well.
"We've taken action to knock the fire down to prevent spread. We're getting crews on there now to essentially extinguish the perimeter of the fire," he said.
According to information posted to the department's NWT Fire website, the Cli Lake fire brings the total area burned in the Northwest Territories this season to about 1.3 square kilometres.
Other fires that started in the Deh Cho over the weekend include a small fire seven kilometres out of Fort Liard, a small fire 13 kilometres out of Trout Lake and a 5,000 square metre fire about 45 kilometres out of Trout Lake.
No information was available on the NWT Fire website about the Cli Lake Fire.
The fire danger forecast for Fort Simpson was expected to remain low through June 16, while the forecast for Fort Liard is high and the forecast for Wrigley is listed as extreme.
Rain swept the Deh Cho on June 14.
- with files from Shane Magee
