Northwestel reports that technicians have begun working on fibre optic lines damaged by the NWT wildfire along Highway 1, but customers further North along the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link will have to wait until conditions improve.
An update was posted to their Facebook page at 1 p.m. Aug. 17.
“Technicians have now accessed impacted sites along Highway 1 in southern NWT and begun repair work,” says the notice. ” The fibre line is damaged in multiple areas and we expect it will take at least 24 hours or more to begin to restore service to South Slave communities. We are coordinating all work with NWT Fire to ensure technicians remain safe.
“Due to continued wildfire activity, we have not yet been able to access the damaged fibre assets along the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link. Service to the Beaufort Delta region remains available but congested. We have been able to augment capacity using OneWeb Low Earth Orbit technology.”
Northwestel said it was also working to evacuate its 120 employees situated in Yellowknife and was establishing a backup control centre. The post did not state where the control centre would be located.
“We want to thank all those working hard to fight these wildfires, assist in the safe evacuation and maintain and restore communications in this critical period.”
The following communities remain without service:
Enterprise
Fort Resolution
Fort Smith
Hay River
Jean-Marie River
Kakisa
High Level, Alberta
The following communities have “congested” service:
Inuvik
Tuktoyaktuk
Aklavik
Tsiigetchic
Fort McPherson