More smoke ahead, no significant growth of forest fire northwest of Yellowknife

There's been no significant growth of a fire burning out of control roughly 42 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife, but more smoke could be on the way along Highway 3, according to wildfire officials.

A spokesperson for the N.W.T. Department of Environment and Natural Resources says fire managers are considering a controlled burn on the east side of the fire, known as fire ZF-024, which is 2,400 hectares in size as of Monday afternoon.

A controlled burn is a forest fire fighting tactic where fuel on the ground ahead of a fire, such as trees and shrubs, is burned by wildfire management crews to choke an advancing wildfire.

An ignition specialist is flying over the fire to assess the situation, calculating winds and the fire's intensity, said Frank McKay an information officer assigned to the fire. 

He says any burn-off would happen later in the evening, hopefully preventing the fire from moving toward an area with cabins about 12 kilometres to the east, he said.

"It's still really far from Yellowknife. There's no values being threatened," said Amber Simpson, a spokesperson for the territory's Forest Management Division during a fire briefing on Monday.

Simpson said crews are handling the situation "well" despite the fire's "extreme" behaviour.

Only air tanker crews have been able to attack the fire.

It's still really far from Yellowknife.- Amber Simpson, Forest management division spokesperson

Ground crews wait for safe conditions

Twenty-six firefighters are waiting for conditions to improve so they can begin fighting the fire from the ground, Simpson said.

"When a fire is showing that kind of fire behaviour we don't want to put firefighters in front of it. It's not safe for them," she said.

The fire isn't the largest in the territory's history but it does have its challenges.

"The flames would be crowning … going from tree to tree," she said. "An extremely hot, large, fast moving fire."

The territory is looking at bringing in 20 firefighters from other jurisdictions to help relieve local fire crews.

Simpson said fire danger rating remains extreme in many parts of the North and South Slave regions with high temperatures and low humidity expected.

Eight new fires started in the North Slave region in the last 24 hours — all caused by lightning.

They include two small fires in the area of the Snare Hydro Plant, said Simpson.

Fire crews continue working on a fire near Watta Lake, about 80 kilometres east of Yellowknife and is currently 180 hectares in size.

There have been 90 wildfires to date in the N.W.T. affecting 15,333 hectares of land as of Monday afternoon.