N.W.T. firefighters 2 weeks ahead on fire season prep

Northwest Territories forest fire crews are hard at work and ahead of schedule, according to the territory's fire operations manager.

Richard Olsen says that with the record 2014 season still fresh in Northerners minds and this year's hot, dry spring, crews are doing all they can to be prepared.

"We're trying to remain pretty vigilant in terms of monitoring the fire environment, anticipating where new starts may be, and making sure we've got the resources in place to deal with it," says Olsen. "I'd say about two weeks earlier [than normal]."

Olsen says fire fighting crews have been busy completing refresher training and testing as well as preparing their equipment.

Crews that would normally start in June have had their start dates moved up. The start dates of air support, including helicopters and water bombers, have also been moved ahead of schedule, and the first CL 215 water bomber is expected to be brought on Wednesday morning.

"There have been a fair amount of lakes, at least in the South Slave and portions of the Deh Cho, where the ice is gone," explains Olsen, "so they can now start picking up water."

The Government of the Northwest Territories employs 28 five-person fire crews during a season, placed in all five regions of the territory and every community, "for the most part," says Olsen. As of yesterday, they had 22 on staff, and will have all 28 crews working by the end of next week.

Six fires reported so far

Few fires have been reported thus far in the season — there were four burning in the territory as of Tuesday, and two have already been extinguished — but Olsen says crews are being vigilant, examining problem areas and putting out fires that have sat smouldering through the winter months.

"Five of the six fires that we've reported at this point in time are some sort of overwintering burn," says Olsen. "We just finished doing a scan... we found some fires in the N.W.T., as well as a couple fires in the [Wood Buffalo National] Park. We think we found the majority of the hotter ones.

"We're thinking that this year, just like the end of last year, we want to be careful with any fires that we leave this early in the season."

Olsen says that fire crews have been working all the fires at this point in the season, save for one small one in an area near Yellowknife that is typically monitored but not actively fought.

The largest burning fire in the territory currently sits at ten hectares and is about 40 kilometres from Fort Providence, posing "no immediate threat to the community," according to Olsen.

'Just being careful'

Fire crews may be more prepared than in most years, but Olsen says that the temperature and lack of precipitation mean that Northwest Territories residents need to be vigilant.

"We are looking at fairly dry conditions around the Great Slave Lake from last year," says Olsen. "There's not a lot of snow that came down."

He says his crews are looking at doing whatever they can to prevent fires, including getting people to help them.

"FireSmarting around their own home, or being careful with fires they need for cooking or keeping warm on the land. Just being careful."