Fire along Ingraham Trail forces evacuations and road closure

A wildfire burning roughly 60 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife has prompted the evacuation of cabins and parks in the area and forced officials to close the Ingraham Trail at kilometer 49.

The fire was first reported on Thursday night when officials said tankers, helicopters and crews had been deployed to action it.

Read: Current wildland fire information

The blaze – which is burning along the Ingraham Trail – forced a number of people to evacuate cabins in the area.

Campers at Reid Lake Territorial Park and Camp Connections were also told to leave while residents and campers on the other side of the fire were advised to exit through a control point.

Late Thursday night, the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT took to its Facebook page to inform residents that Camp Connections was safe and that it would provide an update soon.

Meanwhile, smoke that has moved into the Yellowknife area is coming from a burnout operation being conducted near the Snare hydro system roughly 68 kilometers north of Behchoko.

There, officials say a wildfire that has reached 2,725 hectares in size continues to burn out of control. Three fire crews and heavy equipment are carrying out the operation in an effort to protect values in the area.

The territorial government says 14 new fires have been started in the NWT in the past 24 hours because of lightning alone.

Fire danger remains high to extreme throughout much of the territory Friday, with high temperatures, lightning and gusting winds being forecast in several areas.

As of Wednesday, 108 fires had been reported in the Northwest Territories this year, burning over 80,000 hectares of land.

Mike Gibbins
Mike Gibbins
Hello and thank you for listening to 100.1 Moose FM! To contact me, you can email me, find me on Twitter or call (867) 920-4663.

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