Yukon making plans in case of N.W.T. fire evacuations

Yukon officials are making preparations in case they need to follow through on a pledge to offer assistance to the N.W.T. in the event of an evacuation due to forest fires.

Earlier this week, Premier Darrell Pasloski made the offer to his counterpart in the N.W.T., Bob McLeod.

Whitehorse fire chief Kevin Lyslo says Yukon officials are going over plans to make sure they're ready. He says they're ready to turn the Canada Games Centre in Whitehorse into a reception centre that could handle up to 3,000 people.

"We would anticipate that as a reception centre, if in the event evacuees actually enter Whitehorse," he said.

"Lodging for those people would be through hotels or through the schools and that would be set up through the territorial government."

Two smaller communities in the N.W.T., Kakisa and Jean Marie River, have had voluntary evacuations in the past few months due to wildfires. Residents of both communities returned within days.

So far, none of the N.W.T.'s larger communities have been directly threatened by fire.