Fire near Snare hydro burning out of control
Hydro power restored after transmission lines downed but firefighters struggling to contain blaze
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The forest fire that burned a power line near the Snare hydro dam on Thursday, causing a power outage in Yellowknife, has now been deemed too big to fight.
This photo taken on Sunday shows burnt trees and ground near the Cascades hydro generation plant not far from the Snare hydro dam about 70 kilometres north of Behchoko. Fire burned a transmission line to Yellowknife near Snare on Thursday causing a power outage. The city had to switch over to mostly diesel generated power from the Jackfish power plant while repairs were made. - photo courtesy of NWT Power Corporation |
So said Richard Olsen, manager of fire operations for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR). As of yesterday, the fire had grown to 205 square kilometres in size and ENR deems it out of control.
The fire began about a month ago and originated in an area about 70 kilometres north of Behchoko. Olsen said even though the fire is not being fought directly, there are operations going on to diminish the fire's chance of reaching power lines again.
"We do currently have resources on the fire doing value protection with the power lines. The guys would currently be working around the power lines, clearing them out and possibly preparing them for ignition operations (intentional burnouts) around them," Olsen said. "We just burn the bush under controlled situations ... so that there's no fuel to burn."
Olsen said there are currently three four-member fire crews in the Snare area and they are getting support from helicopters. He added as of yesterday he was not sure whether any other power lines were being threatened at the Snare site.
Pam Coulter, spokesperson for the NWT Power Corporation (NTPC), stated in an e-mail that after the fire burned the transmission line, power corp. switched over to diesel generators at Jackfish Lake power plant to supply power to the North Slave, including Yellowknife, plus hydro from the smaller plant at Bluefish Lake.
Coulter added crews worked through the weekend to repair the burnt line and Yellowknife, Dettah and Behchoko were again getting power from Snare as of late Monday afternoon.
"The fire damaged the line to the extent that it fell to the ground. The metal transmission towers did not sustain damage, " stated Coulter.
"Since last Thursday, one wooden transmission pole between one of the (Snare plants) and the airstrip was slightly damaged by fire and one wooden distribution pole between two plants was damaged as well - these too have been replaced."
Coulter added there is no damage estimate as of yet but said it cost the power corp. between $25,000 and $30,000 per day for the diesel while the repairs were being done. She said more work on the transmission line will be required to ensure a more permanent repair to the damaged line.
Coulter stated before the repairs were made, the generation mix was about 75 per cent diesel from Jackfish and 25 per cent hydro from Bluefish.
She added as long as it is safe to do so, NTPC crews will work with firefighters to clear brush from areas surrounding the four plants at Snare and other assets.
Olsen said there is another fire about 10 kilometres from the Snare fire. That fire was about 4.5 kilometres from the Fortune Mineral Nico exploration site, about 80 kilometres north of Behchoko.
"The company has brought some folks in. There were some concerns with some flammable material," Olsen said.
"They've used some of the heavy equipment to move some items into safer locations. Our crews are putting sprinklers up there on the chance they may need to be turned on."
Olsen added the department will be monitoring that fire and may be doing some prescribed burns around it.
Those are the two fires that have been getting the most attention in the North Slave region. The fire at the end of the Ingraham Trail that destroyed Namushka Lodge on Harding Lake and a cabin on Pickerel Lake is now about 76 square kilometres. Crews and equipment were demobilized and taken off that fire on Monday. It is no longer threatening any property.
The fire danger in Yellowknife yesterday was listed as high. Two new fires were reported in the North Slave over the last week. Neither are believed to be threatening any cabins or homes.
