Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Mop up operations underway at Reid Lake Campgrounds parts of Ingraham Trail to remain closed until further notice NWT exports team to fight fires in Oregon Remaining NWT crews working on single fire east of Yellowknife Tuesday August 11 2015 7 ENVIRONMENT WILDFIRES Photos wanted for 2016 Fort Smith Pet Desk Calendar Filling up fast Get your pictures in soon Ifyouwouldliketohavephotosofyour petstakenarrangementscanbemade. Please call Chris at 872-5547. Becauseofthehighvolumeofrequests we are on a first come first in basis. Special consideration will be made for pets not in previous calendars. Please submit photos of living pets only. Thereisnofeetohavephotosinthecalendar. If you have any questions or need more information please call Chris at 872-5547 or email dewolfnorthwestel.net Deadline is August 31 This ad sponsored by the Northern Journal By MEAGAN WOHLBERG WithreseasonwindingdownintheNorth- west Territories the government has supplied a team of overhead staff and an air tanker to aid in the ght against wildres in Oregon. Twelve personnel left last Monday to as- sist crews in the northwestern state where the massive Stouts Fire had communities on evacuation warning early last week. Over 1200 reghters are working on the blaze that is now over 22501 acres and compro- mising air quality in several nearby towns. The exported NWT crew members include two radio operators one timekeeper two di- visional supervisors one re observer two facilities unit supervisors one air operations branch director an Electra air tanker group and air attack ofcer and one agency repre- sentative who will be gone for up to 19 days. This exchange is happening through a northwest compact agreement that we have said Mike Gravel manager of forest manage- ment services with Environment and Natural Resources ENR. It includes the western provinces and territories...Alaska Oregon Idaho. We have agreements to exchange per- sonnel when the time requires it. Its the rst time the territory has been able to share staff since 2012 an indicator that the re situation has become fairly quiet over the last several weeks with cooler tem- peratures and rain over much of the NWT. Already the territorial government has re- tired some of its crews for the summer. But even with things settling in the NWT Gravel said the territory cannot afford to share any more resources with a month left to go in the season. At this time I think thats probably all were going to send because we still have a certain amount of risk in the NWT so we have to maintain a certain amount of capa- bility here to deal with anything new that comes up he said. Fire bans lifted The City of Yellowknife announced a re ban on Aug. 4 for all open pit res within the city but thanks to rainfall over the weekend the bans were ofcially lifted on Aug. 10. Fire bans at Fred Henne and Yellowknife River territorial parks followed suit and were removed the same day. An air quality alert was issued for the city last week due to surrounding fires. Along with reduced visibility due to smoke resi- dents were warned that poor air quality could cause high health risk conditions. Residents were advised to reduce stren- uous outdoor activities until air quality improved. There have been 231 fires to date this year. Apart from the Reid Lake fire the re- maining fires in the territory are just being monitored but that could change with hot temperatures and easterly winds expected to grow in force over the next week. The forecast does not look favourable Gravel said. The relative humidity is going down and the winds are primarily from the east-southeast and picking up in strength. Use of extra caution urged Highway 3 from Fort Providence to Beh- choko was closed all day on Aug. 7 to allow for fire suppression operations. The next day ENR announced two new fires had been ignited in the area. One was naturally occurring started by a lightning bolt about 78 km from Behchoko. The other fire SS-079 about 14 km from Fort Providence was man-made and thought to be caused by a discarded cigarette or tobacco product. The fire re- ceived limited action and was quickly extinguished. However the incident has prompted of- ficials to advise people to use extra caution and to avoid using fire at all if possible. PhotocourtesyofENR ENVIRONMENT WILDFIRES By DALI CARMICHAEL Fireghters battling a blaze near Reid Lake were nally able to start calming the re over the weekend after it wreaked havoc in the North Slave area early last week. Fire ZF-014 located about 50 km outside of Yellowknife began expanding last Tuesday prompting ofcials to evacuate the nearby Reid Lake campground on Aug. 5 in order to conduct re management operations. At the same time the department of Mu- nicipal and Community Affairs MACA began calling for the voluntary evacuation of cabins around Pickerel Lake. Luckily op- erations have been successful so far and no values-at-risk have been damaged. We have about 100 personnel and com- mand center at Reid Lake Campground said Environment and Natural Resources spokes- person Judy McLinton on Monday. Person- nel include an incident management team 16 crews and a values at risk protection unit. Four of those crews arrived from Alberta last night to assist with suppression efforts. There are also seven helicopters working the re as well as support from air tankers. TheoriginalreoriginatednearHardingLake at the end of June. Last week ames covered 20000 hectares but by Monday morning the re had spread to more than 32000 hectares. On Aug. 7 the re jumped across Highway 4 the Ingraham Trail forcing closures from Tibbitt Lake to Cameron River including the Cameron River day use area. As of press time Monday the road remained closed from Powder Point to Tibbitt Lake and will remain so until further notice. Two crews remained at Little Pickerel Lake on the south end to mop up the re. Addition- ally several burnout operations are planned to head east from Defeat and Harding Lakes with the intention of conning the re to the small lakes in the area. Cleanupoperationsanddirectattacksonthe west ank of the re near Defeat Lake and on the north end of Reid Lake are still in effect with values-at-risk protection remaining in place at Defeat Peninsula and Tibbitt Lakes. Firebehaviourremainsextremebecauseof the hot dry and windy conditions McLinton said. The re is burning deep which makes mop up difcult. The North Slave Region and particularly the Yellowknife region is very dry as there has been only about 20 to 22 mm of rain so far this summer. The region has been experiencing hot dry and windy weather for more than a week. Crews were blessed with a sprinkle of rain Monday morning aiding in their efforts. The campground and day use area will continue to remain closed until further no- tice as re management operations are car- ried out. Those who wish to cancel a booking have been given the option to do so without penalty for the period of August 5-14. Re- funds for extended stay campsite holders will be provided at a prorated daily rate once the park re-opens. A crew of 12 staff members were exported from the NWT to Oregon last week to as- sist with operations in the state. Fire ZF-014 near Reid Lake about 50 km from Yellowknife caused several evacuations and closed parts of the Ingraham Trail last week as it grew from 20000 to 32000 hectares. PhotocourtesyofENR