In council today, Yellowknife Fire Chief Nelson Johnson was in attendance to speak on the Yellowknife Fire Division’s plans to establish safe perimeters around the city.
According to the Chief, a sprinkler system has been established to slow any flames that creep too close to the city and Chief Johnson clarified his plans regarding when sprinkler action may be deployed.
“It’s a little bit of a calculated risk, we do want them [the sprinklers] on before the fire hits, we want it to run long enough that the fire won’t go through, and we want them to run after the fire is gone,” Johnson says.
“Typically it’s about 30 minutes before the fire comes to an area, so we monitor the fire’s speed, how it’s travelling, which way the winds are going, and then when we figure it’s about at that half hour mark, that’s when we will turn the sprinklers on,” he adds.
Johnson’s plans include running the sprinklers after they are triggered to ensure any potential fuel for the flames is properly wetted to slow fire growth towards the city.
“The sprinklers will run 2-4 hours on the fuel that’s there, so that’s when we keep it going… the fire does move fast but the residual of the flames and stuff stay there for about a half hour, so we want to make sure everything is wet so nothing continues to burn,”
Chief Johnson was not made available after his presentation and the City of Yellowknife remains not at risk as of August 14, at 3:30pm.
