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Wildfire leaves no 'major loss' after burning through N.W.T.'s Taltson hydro site

A wildfire caused minor damage to the Taltson hydro site in the N.W.T.'s South Slave region on Saturday. 

NTPC to do full assessment to determine extent of the damage

a satellite image
A group of fires in the N.W.T., known as the Taltson Complex, reached the Taltson hydro site on Aug. 5. The complex's total burn area is now measured at 226,275 hectares. The image above was taken via satellite on Aug. 8. The fires' burn area is the brown patch in the middle of the image. (Sentinel-2 Satellite/European Space Agency)

A wildfire caused minor damage to the Taltson hydro site in the N.W.T.'s South Slave region on Saturday. 

"To date, it does not appear that there has been a major loss of assets, but some small buildings and power poles on site have been lost," said Doug Prendergast, spokesperson for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC).

A tower along the transmission line also collapsed. 

Prendergast said NTPC needs to complete a more in-depth assessment of the site to know the full extent of the damage. 

He said the power corporation and fire crews had installed sprinklers throughout the site and they were working when the fire burned through the area. 

Communities are not at risk of losing power as Taltson has been offline since April in preparation for large-scale renovations scheduled for later this year. Those communities have been relying on diesel generators.