N.W.T. fires still burning despite wet, cool weather
'It's pretty much like that rain never happened,' says fire management officer
Cool, wet weather in the Northwest Territories this week did little to help the fire situation, say N.W.T. officials.
The territory saw less than 5 millimetres of rain in the last week.
"Really all that shower did is help us catch up with the fires that we're working on," said Mike Gravel, a territorial duty officer in forest fire management with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
"But one or two days of this warm, windy weather, and it's pretty much like that rain never even happened in our business."
Gravel said the territory needs deep, heavy rain to make a difference.
A fire in the South Slave is not affecting highways or communities, but Gravel says there are a number of cabins in the area. Crews have started fire guards near that blaze, in case they need to do controlled burns in the future.
Crews are also working on a fire between Kakisa and Jean Marie River, which Gravel hopes will be under control by this weekend.
"It's proactive to deal with them while they're small at this time of year," he says.
"Because it's very early in June and we're having carryover from last summer's extreme drought conditions, it's necessary for us to be aggressive in our management techniques."
Highway 3 should remain open
There could be good news for people wanting to travel along Highway 3 between Behchoko and Fort Providence this summer.
Gravel says a controlled burn south of Behchoko last week has taken away the fuel between a fire and the highway, which will hopefully keep the road open throughout the summer.
He says he doesn't expect any upcoming road closures with the current fire situation.
But with the dry conditions and more lightning in the forecast, Gravel is urging people to be fire smart this weekend.