Firefighters have made small steps in fighting the Yellowknife Wildfire, but strong winds this weekend mean it’s still not safe to return to the city.
Officials gave an update at a 4 p.m. press conference Aug. 31.
Municipal and Community affairs Shane Thompson said the GNWT would be applying Disaster Assistance Policy to Behchoko, Enterprise, Fort Smith, Hay River, K’átł’odeeche First Nation, Yellowknife, Dettah below the Murray River, Sambaa K’e and potentially the Ingraham Trail.
“The activation of this policy is one way we can provide financial assistance,” said Thompson. “While we are one step closer to going back home, we still have to wait for a little bit longer.”
Emergency Management Organization information officer Jay Boast said the Disaster Assistance Policy applies if the wildfire did damage to residence or belongings, if you’re a resident of the NWT and if insurance does not cover the damage costs.
Wildfire information officer Mike Westwick said strong winds coming from the west could potentially move fires up to 20 kilometres. But he said firefighters were making “very good progress” in the Yellowknife area.
Firefighters are bracing for an “extreme wind event” on Friday, with winds expected to gust up to 50 kilometres per hour by mid morning. This heavy wind is expected to put additional pressure on firefighting efforts going into the weekend.
Currently, 325 personnel, including Canadian Armed Forces personnel, 14 helicopters, four air tanker groups, and four pieces of heavy equipment are fighting the fires around Yellowknife. Two of the fires are classified as “being held”, those being ZF-015, which sits 15 kilometres Northwest of Yellowknife and Behchoko, and ZF011 — the Ingraham Trail fire. ZF085 — which sits 29 km southeast of Dettah and ZF012, which sits 43 km North of Yellowknife, are considered out of control.
Pharmacies in Yellowknife have updated their hours of operation while the evacuation is ongoing.
Medicine Shoppe is open from Monday thru Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Shoppers Drug Mart is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Emergency phone numbers will be posted on the doors for people needing assistance after hours.
Northwest Territories Power Corporation reports it has repaired the support tower for the transmission line in between the Snare Hydro plant and Behchoko and the community is back to running on hydroelectric power.
Wildfires had damaged the line and forced the community to fall back onto diesel generation at the Frank Channel plant.
“A new tower was installed and hydro supply resumed earlier today,” reads an Aug. 31 social media update posted at 1:07 p.m. “The local diesel power plant has now been returned to standby status.”