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Yukon’s wildfire season ‘escalated dramatically’ over last week, with 80 new starts

Territory requesting firefighting help from elsewhere, but officials say resources stretched thin everywhere

The Yukon’s wildfire season has taken a turn for the worse in recent days, according to emergency officials, with 80 new fires sparked in the last week.

And with more lightning expected in the coming days, officials are bracing for still more — while preparing for the possibility that there’s no available firefighting help from outside the territory.

“This territory’s wildfire season has escalated dramatically in the recent days, due to lightning activity,” said Mike Fancie, Yukon’s fire information officer, at a briefing on Monday afternoon.

More than half of those new fires — 42 — are in the Dawson fire district, and 20 are in the Old Crow district.

No Yukon communities are currently at risk, officials said. There are still three evacuation alerts in place, for the   Dublin Gulch area   near Keno City, the   Sixtymile area   south of Top of the World Highway, and from kilometres 10 to 35 of the Silver Trail.

On Sunday, the Eagle Gold mine site   was evacuated   on the recommendation of emergency officials. The East McQuesten River fire is now about four kilometres from the mine site, Fancie said.

Some workers have since been allowed back to the mine site to perform “critical functions,” though they must be able to clear out again within 60 minutes if needed.

Resources stretched thin

As of Monday, there were 96 active wildfires across the territory. Fancie said 12 of those were receiving a full response — with attack crews trying to contain and extinguish the fire — and seven more were receiving a modified response, where the focus is more on protecting property and infrastructure.

It’s all stretched the territory’s resources thin, and that has emergency officials anxious about the weather in the coming days.

“We certainly need more initial attack resources, just because we expect more lightning to take place,” Fancie said.

The territory has already been scrounging for additional helicopters. Other government departments and local helicopter companies have helped out as much as they can, Fancie says, but the shortage has made firefighting more “challenging” — particularly in remote areas of central and northern Yukon.

“We’ve been making progress securing more helicopters. However, last week a lack of helicopters did hamper our response to attack some fires,” Fancie said.

“We require these different types of resources in order to be successful in our job and last week we were short in rotary-wing resources.”

A crew of 20 Nova Scotia firefighters that  arrived earlier this month   to help in Yukon has now gone home. Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn said Monday that he was “surprised and delighted” that they were able to come, and said they did amazing work — but now they’re getting some much-needed rest.

Mostyn said the territory is again asking for more help from other jurisdictions — but he cautions that help may simply not be available.

“The entire country is swaddled in smoke and fire and it is taxing the firefighter resources of every jurisdiction in the country,” Mostyn said.

“In former years at this time in the season, there might be lots of crews all over the country sitting idle and ready to come on board. But this year there’s nothing. Like, there’s very, very little. We are all working flat-out in this nation, to try to keep a handle on this unprecedented fire situation.”

He said Yukon officials should know in the coming days whether there are any extra resources available within Canada or beyond.

In the meantime, Fancie said firefighters “will do everything that we can with the resources that we have.”

“We are going to request the resources that we need, see what comes from that request, and then make an assessment about how to address the situation.”

Related stories from around the North: 

Canada:   Fire services have returned to Pelly Crossing, Yukon, after a decade without , CBC News

Norway :   Smoke from Canadian wildfires forecast to reach Norway , The Associated Press

Russia :   New NOAA report finds vast Siberian wildfires linked to Arctic warming , The Associated Press

Sweden:   Fire bans in force across large parts of Sweden, Radio Sweden

United States :   Wildfires in Anchorage? Climate change sparks disaster fears , The Associated Press

• ← 15 structures lost to fire between Highway 3 and Stagg Lake, N.W.T.
• Russian diplomat staged Navy Parade at Norway’s Svalbard archipelago →

For more news from Canada visit CBC News .

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Yukon asks for more help as it deals with over 130 new wildfires in past week

Dozens of b.c. firefighters already in territory, more on the way. lightning is to blame for most of the fires.

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Dozens of B.C. firefighters are in Yukon right now and more are on the way to help deal with wildfires that have been growing in number every day.

"We're bringing lots of people in to take care of this unprecedented situation," said Mike Fancie, information officer with Yukon Wildland Fire Management, on Thursday afternoon.   

"We've got a 100-person fire camp coming up from B.C. and the staff to support it, to help us find accommodation for all these people, that's going to be staged in a remote location. We have six more initial attack crews coming up. We have another 20-person unit crew coming up, and another order is being prepared today."

Fancie said that's on top of what's already arrived in Yukon from elsewhere, including dozens of firefighters and incident management support, 28 helicopters and two air tanker groups.

"We're prioritizing our resources as best we can right now to try and triage things based on the areas of greatest need."

As of early Thursday afternoon, there were 144 active wildfires across Yukon, including major fires in almost all regions of the territory. Several communities in the central territory are still under an evacuation alert issued a few days ago but none have been ordered to evacuate. 

Several roads are still closed, including the North Klondike Highway near Stewart Crossing. The 6,000-hectare Crystal Lake fire crossed the highway and destroyed power lines and poles earlier this week. Fancie said on Thursday that 27 firefighters were working on that fire, along with heavy equipment.

Many of the territory's wildfires in recent days have been caused by lightning, combined with hot weather. Officials say 671 lightning strikes caused 136 new fires in the last week.

"It's weird to say that we 'only' had 12 new fires in the last day, but that's the least new fire activity that we've had since before the long weekend," Fancie said on Thursday.

He said the weather is expected to shift in the coming days, but it's not yet clear whether that's a good thing.

"While it is trending towards more seasonal temperatures, there is also the potential with that front for stronger winds," Fancie said.

"You know, every time we blow on a campfire we see what happens with wind and fire."

• Wildfire breaches north Klondike Hwy in Yukon, burns up power poles
• Yukon's 12-hour internet outage added challenges for emergency officials

Yukoners are encouraged to report any new wildfires by calling 1-888-798-FIRE. Information about wildfires can be found at 867-393-7415 or [email protected].

Written by Paul Tukker with files from Leonard Linklater

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• Evacuation alert issued for some Yukon communities due to wildfire
• Portion of Yukon's Klondike Highway closed as wildfire burns nearby

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