Wildfires have left charred remains beside the highway in Enterprise, NWT, on Aug., 20.ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP/Getty Images
Crews continued Tuesday to battle wildfires that have forced seven out of every 10 Northwest Territories residents from their homes – or about 30,000 people.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Shane Thompson said it was another challenging day for firefighters.
“Crews continue to work hard to prevent these wildfires from reaching our communities,” Thompson said during a media briefing late Tuesday.
“While we cannot control the weather, we can influence fire behaviour by cutting away fire fuels and strengthening defences around our communities.
“And that’s exactly what crews are working so hard to do.”
Earlier Tuesday, fire information officer Mike Westwick says one fire remains about 15 kilometres from Yellowknife, the capital of 20,000 people, and one of multiple communities under an evacuation order.
Mr. Westwick says firefighting work at Fort Smith, on the Alberta-NWT boundary, is expected to be particularly challenging given temperatures approaching 30 C.
“The situation remains serious across all our communities with active fires,” Mr. Westwick said in an interview.
“Air tankers are working tirelessly across our territory to knock down the intensity of these fires and give time for crews to get good work done on the ground.”
He said flames were about four kilometres from Fort Smith and that winds were threatening to move the fire close while crews scrambled to cut the forest down to the dirt to deprive flames of fuel.
“There’s more than 250 people assigned and dozens of helicopters to that Fort Smith area,” he said.
A spokesperson for the NWT emergency management organization says there have been reports of people returning to Fort Smith, or planning to return there, despite the wildfire risk.
Jennifer Young said residents need to know they will be stopped at established checkpoints and asked to verify whether they are an essential worker of an evacuated community before being let through.
Fort Smith’s 2,500 residents have been out for more than a week.
Mr. Westwick said fires that encroached close to the community of Jean Marie River last week have been kept at bay and no structures have been damaged.
“We’re looking towards hopefully being able to provide good news on that fire soon,” he said.
Flames remained about eight kilometres from Hay River, on the south end of Great Slave Lake, and Mr. Westwick said they expect a challenging week there of hotter and drier conditions and shifting winds.
“All of those winds we would expect to push the fire away from a river, but could cause fire growth, which always makes things more challenging,” he said.
The 20,000 residents of Yellowknife were ordered out last week and are staying in Alberta and other points south.
Mr. Westwick said the area received a negligent amount of rain overnight, but firefighters have been able to move to a direct attack on suppressing the flames.
“We remain of the assessment that the fire is highly unlikely to reach the outskirts of Yellowknife in the next three days,” he said.
“[But] it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal said the government is in discussions already with Northwest Territories on how to help return evacuees safely to the territory.
“It’s still a dangerous situation,” he said, but added talks and logistics of what it will take are happening already.
“That’s hopefully the next step,” he said.
The NWT legislative assembly, meanwhile, is set to be recalled to consider a law delaying the upcoming Oct. 3 territorial election because of the wildfire situation.
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Mr. Vandal said that conversations are under way with the provinces on how evacuees will be brought back to the territory.
“We are there, every day, as a whole of government, to make sure that we suppress the fires,” he said.
“First of all, we need Mother Nature to help. Rain would be great, and it started, but we need more. It’s still a dangerous situation. But we’re looking at bringing people back. There’s a multitude of departments involved in that. And that’s hopefully the next step.”
Mr. Vandal and some of his cabinet colleagues were speaking about the wildfires at a cabinet retreat being held in Charlottetown.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said the federal government has committed to cover all eligible evacuation costs and recovery costs. The specific cost has still not been determined because the fires are still burning, she added.
Ms. Hadju said that she has spoken with a number of chiefs to reassure them Ottawa will be there to help with cashflow.
“Some communities have more ability to manage than others,” she said, adding First Nations leaders who have not contacted her or her department should reach out.
“This is really a very difficult situation to manage for chiefs and councils,” she said.
“Often, communities are very small and have limited capacity. And so, the department has stepped up, both in practical supports to help co-ordinate some of those evacuations, to provide health supports, and then to provide the financial supports that are necessary in these extraordinary times.”
Evacuees from Yellowknife queue up to get gas at Big River Service in Ft. Providence, NWT, on Aug. 17.Bill Braden/The Canadian Press
Federal National Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said that, by and large across Canada, there is a continuation of dry and hot weather which creates circumstances that are conducive to the generation of fires, particularly from eastern Quebec across the western part of the country.
“The forecast would tell us that we’re going to have to be very cautious and very thoughtful and potentially be capable of addressing additional fires that may come,” Mr. Wilkinson said.
Mr. Wilkinson said the federal government is actively thinking about critical infrastructure particularly as it relates to the electricity grid and noted the introduction of the country’s first national adaption plan earlier this year.
The minister also said a recent figure indicated more than 13.4 million hectares have burned as a result of the fires and Ottawa is considering how to use a tree-planting program to reforest some of the areas that have been affected.
“We are thinking about how we can use that program in a manner that will help us to restore those forests and habitat.”
With a report from Kristy Kirkup in Charlottetown.