Crews are bravely battling a fire estimated to be hovering back and forth between 900 to 1 km from the community of Fort Providence. NWT Fire posted an update early this morning reporting that fire SS014 is within 1 km of Fort Providence due to a wind shift and approaching at the southeast edge of the community, in an area known as the community nuisance grounds.
Crews reported that the wind shift is coming mainly from the northeast.
No losses of homes have been reported as of 5:30 p.m and crews were able mostly maintain the distance between the fire and the community.
“The fire has not reached the community and did not meaningfully advance towards the community today,” said NWT Fire this evening.
The blaze did reach about 1 to 2.5 km of the fuel break, stretching the northern edge of Fort Providence across the rest of fire’s front.
Wildfire teams organized an air response using buckets to wash down the heat, cooling the fire front, to prevent the fire’s expansion.
“Crews and heavy equipment successfully contained the finger of fire which approached the southeast corner of the community last night,” said officials.
Mike Westwick of NWT Fire told media this morning that last night crews faced some extemely challenging fire activity when the fire reached within 900 meters of the hamlet’s border, but miraculously crews were able to push the line back.
“It has not reached the community as of this update. However, it continues to approach the community’s southeast edge, showing moderately to highly vigorous surface fire to torching (occasional burning through the tops of trees) fire behaviour,” said NWT Fire.
“The southeast flank of this fire is within 900 metres of the southeastern edge of Fort Providence,” said Fire crews in an update early this afternoon.
Today, light winds of 5 to 10 km per hour, and sustained winds gusting up to 15 km per hour are forecasted to come from the east and east-southeast.
Wildland teams are concerned this could cause growth on active fire fronts to the west and there are also some possibilities of wind working in favour of firefighters.
“Southerly components would push the fire back on itself and are not a major concern for this wildfire. The relative humidity – level of moisture in the air – may drop to approximately 35 per cent by evening, which could support fire activity depending on the fuels,” said NWT Fire.
Yesterday morning, an Evacuation Order was issued to the community.
NWT Fire reported that some essential workers are being evacuated, but firefighters remain in the community.
This morning at about 10:30 a.m. GNWT’s department of Infrastructure announced that Hwy 3 is now open. Officials are advising that, with conditions in the region, that could change quickly.
“Hwy 3 is now fully OPEN to traffic. Please drive with caution as wildfires continue to impact driving conditions due to poor visibility. PBe prepared for delays and potential road closures.”
Officials are advising travellers to check for updates on DriveNWT.ca
Structure protection specialists have continued to run water cannons and sprinklers to create a wet line within the community and protect structures at risk
Crews wet down the forest around the access road to prevent expansion of the fire
Wildland and structural firefighters are continuing to patrol for and attack spot fires as long as conditions allow and it is safe to do so should the fire reach the community. The fire was last reported to be about 89,000 hectaries in size.
“Structural firefighters from Hay River and Fort Providence are prepared to fight structure fires should they occur so long as it is safe,” said NWT Fire.
“Heavy equipment attempted to head off the advancing fire front, but the fire overwhelmed these efforts,” added crews.
Crews used aircraft support to make water drops to reduce the fire’s intensity whenever conditions allowed to do so, but visibility issues have made most aerial firefighting unsafe.
Fire guards were strengthened by heavy equipment.
An Incident Management Team has been coordinating action on the fire.
Last night, northeasterly winds had dominated the fire since 6 p.m. said officials, who reported that gusts reached as high as 25 km per hour and sustained between 10 to 15 km per hour.
NWT Fire and Fort Providence firefighters, along with an Incident Management Team are actioning an aggressive response to the wildfire, which includes five crews, two intermediate helicopters, seven dozers, two mulchers, and seven fire trucks, an incident management team and structure protection specialists.
Winds today were light and varying between easterly, southeasterly, southerly, and west-northwesterly throughout the day.
Tomorrow, winds are forecasted from the southeast at 5 km per hour, gusting 10 km per hour through the morning and afternoon, and from the east by evening.
“These winds are not expected to caused significant progression towards the community should they turn out as forecast,” said crews.
