The wildfire burning near Highway 3 has forced the community of Behchoko to order an evacuation of the community to Yellowknife.
The order was published just before 6 p.m. Monday evening by Pushp Seth, the community’s senior administrative officer. In it, Seth stated that residents must evacuate by tonight and that the muster station is the Khon Go Cho Sportsplex on the recreation side. Anyone who is in need of transportation is asked to go to the muster station.
Residents are being told to register at the Multiplex once they arrive in the city.
The evacuation order follows a weekend of smaller-scale evacuations for those living between kilometres 256 and 290 of the highway. Those people were told to evacuate to either Behchoko or Yellowknife.
NWT Fire is saying that the fire was caused by lightning and was mapped at more than 63,000 hectares as of 6 p.m. Monday evening. It stood less than 2-km north of the highway, 25-km east of Behchoko and 45-km northwest of Yellowknife.
NWT Fire indicated that ignition operations to try and stop the spread of the fire have been successful thus far, though plans to continue the Stagg River ignition line didn’t happen. Cabins and homes near Highway 3 are attempting to be protected by sprinklers.
Aerial support is on stand-by if needed to help support ignition operations.
There are a total of 24 firefighters battling the blaze — six crews of four each — along with an incident management team, a structure protection specialist, air tankers and four helicopters.