Wildfire latest: Challenging week ahead for YK, Fort Smith, Hay River

Here are the latest simple updates we have on wildfires threatening NWT communities, with time stamps below.

We have kept these summaries brief so you can get updates without having to wade through many paragraphs. More detailed information is published by NWT Fire and local governments.

Use our guides for help: guide to getting out, guide to where to stay, guide to everything else (including what we know about financial supports). Check our homepage frequently for other updates.

Here’s our fire map. Here’s what to expect from Cabin Radio in the days ahead.

All communities listed are unsafe for your return. Do not travel. There is no timeline for return unless stated.

Yellowknife

8pm Sunday: NWT Fire says several wind shifts are expected on Monday – starting northeasterly in the morning, then easterly in the afternoon, and finally southeasterly in the evening. These winds will help push the fire back over burned areas and help prevent it from moving closer to the city.

While there was a little rain in Yellowknife around 7:45pm, it was not enough it made a significant impact. The area is drying out and will continue to do so as temperatures reach into the mid-20Cs this week.

winds pushing the Yellowknife fire east up to 35 km/h gusts, while the Ingraham Trail and Dettah fires could see gusts up to 40 km/h. That wind will mean “significant drying” after recent rain. Possible thunderstorms with small amounts of rain but also the threat of new lightning-caused fires.

Yellowknife fire is still 15 km west and unlikely to reach the Yellowknife boundary by Monday.

“Infrared scanning indicated roughly 40km of hot line at the perimeter, with some new hot areas discovered beyond the fire perimeter to the east, indicating minor progression,” said the wildfire agency in a Sunday night update.

Ingraham Trail fire could make progress south in next two days but “highly unlikely” to reach the road. Aim is to hold fire back from Prelude Lake, fire being four to five kilometres away at present. Dettah fire got a decent rain dump that “should slow eastward growth under the westerly winds today.”

Hay River, KFN, Enterprise

5:30pm Sunday: Town manager earlier said it’ll be weeks till people can come back. Extra military support arrived on Sunday afternoon.

“Next week is certainly going to be a lot of little flare-ups and activity,” senior administrator Glenn Smith told us late on Saturday. “Hopefully we make it through the week OK.”

The fire is about 8 km away from Hay River to the south and approximately 14 km away from Kakisa.

The fire is so big different sections of the fire are experiencing different weather, such as different wind patterns. More southerly winds combined with hot weather will make the upcoming week challenging.

Fort Smith

11am Sunday: The fire remains four kilometres from the town but there is concern that fire activity will increase from Sunday night. Parks Canada stated: “The coming week is expected to bring southerly winds and warmer, drier conditions with Monday’s high being 26C with a relative humidity of 30 percent. This may cause an increase in fire behaviour, including visible smoke.” This update remained unchanged on Sunday evening.

Kakisa

7pm Saturday NWT Fire update: Fire is 14 kilometres away, no significant shift. Water being taken into the community during communications outage and a Starlink has been dropped off.

Jean Marie River

No recent formal update. Satellite imagery suggests no progress toward the community from the access road area.

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