N.W.T.'s 2024 wildfire season was 'highly active,' with 1.7M hectares of land burned

The N.W.T.'s 2024 wildfire season may not have seemed as dramatic as last year's — but a territorial official says it was still a "highly active" season that burned a little under 1.7 million hectares of land. 

That's the third-highest amount of land burned in a season, after 2023 and 2014, according to data going back to 2005. 

"A continuing defining feature of our fire season, and certainly something driving those larger fires … was continuing drought, particularly in the south of the territory," said Mike Westwick, a manager for wildfire prevention and mitigation with the N.W.T. government. 

Although Fort Smith got a "fair bit" of rain throughout the summer, he said, Hay River and areas near the border to the west experienced intensifying drought conditions. Those cause fires to burn hotter and more deeply into the ground. 

Westwick said such conditions makes containment difficult, because it means crews have to dig deep into the ground to extinguish those fires.

"They were definitely struggling with that throughout a lot of the year, for sure," he said. 

Jesse Wagar, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, also said it was a very dry summer in the N.W.T., especially in the central and southern regions. 

She said Fort Liard, for example, had its third-driest summer on record with just 54 per cent of its usual summer rainfall amount. 

What happened: a recap

Fort Liard was the first N.W.T. community to be placed under an evacuation notice this season. It happened in mid-May, and it lasted for nearly two weeks. 

About a month later, an evacuation order was issued for Fort Good Hope and it remained in effect for three weeks. The territory said 220 evacuees headed to Norman Wells, 21 went to Deline, and 140 found shelter at a nearby fish camp. 

Tom Frith, a helicopter pilot, lost his life fighting the fire threatening that community. 

"His selfless dedication is an example of the courage and commitment exemplified by the wildfire management team," said Jay Macdonald, the N.W.T.'s minister of environment and climate change, earlier this month at the Legislative Assembly. 

People living in Edzo, Little Buffalo River near Fort Resolution and Deline were also put on evacuation notices in the summer — but each of those was lifted without being elevated to an order. 

By mid-August, Westwick said, fire activity had begun to slow down and the territory was able to deploy resources to help fire crews in Alberta, British Columbia and Oregon. 

He described it as an "important part of business" that allows N.W.T. crews — both firefighters and management teams — the opportunity to learn from large agencies dealing with complex fire situations. 

Those same mutual-aid agreements were what helped the territory deal with its worst wildfire season on record, last year. 

Temperature records

Though this past summer wasn't the warmest on record for the N.W.T., Wagar said temperatures were still relatively high.

She said the most pronounced area of warmth was in the far north in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, and particularly around Paulatuk. She said the region had its fifth-warmest summer on record. 

Fort McPherson, Inuvik and Paulatuk all saw their highest-ever temperatures in early August. 

Fort McPherson's top three warmest temperatures happened on three consecutive days – Aug. 6, 7, and 8 – with a peak temperature of 35.1 C. Inuvik hit 34.8 C on Aug. 7, while Paulatuk hit 31 C the following day. 

"We are seeing the pace of these all-time temperature records picking up and we are seeing them year over year," said Wagar. "It is a bit alarming to see that." 

Looking forward 

A fall fire outlook published earlier this month by Natural Resources Canada says there are still "stubborn fires" that will "likely continue" where Alberta, B.C., and N.W.T. share a border. 

According to the territory's wildfire website, there were just four active fires at the end of October: three in the southern part of the territory, and one in the Sahtu region.  

Westwick said he'll be looking to see if weather patterns shift into a La Niña year, which could bring more precipitation and a cooler winter. That could help address the territory's drought conditions, he said. 

"We're going to have to see how that plays out over the winter," said Westwick.