The Fort Providence village, NWT, put residents on an evacuation alert on Saturday afternoon at 4 pm
Initially, The Hamlet published an evacuation notice around 3:44 pm to its community’s advertisements. He updated it to an alert shortly after.
Fort Providence Superior Officer, Susan Christie, wrote that there is a forest fire in the area that “can present a higher risk to the community.”
The 700 residents of the community are recommended to prepare for a possible emergency or evacuation.
The mayor of Fort Providence, Danny Beaulieu, told CBC News on Saturday night that the evacuation plan, if the situation requires it, would be that people go to there is River. He said there will be buses for the elderly and those without vehicles.
Beaulieu said he doesn’t expect the community to evacuate Saturday night.
Beaulieu, a former firefighter, said the wind was extreme on Saturday.
“That was one of the worst fire behaviors that I have seen in a long time,” he said.
He said that the NWT Municipal and Community Affairs Department plans to provide two buses that will be in the Snowstroe Inn on Sunday.
Beaulieu said the nursing station will remain open, unless it becomes too smoked.
He said that the Deh Cho bridge crosses the Mackenzie river on the road to the river, is open to two traffic lanes.
The NWT government map showed the bridge only open to a lane. Spokeswoman Amy Kennedy clarified in an email that this had been the case due to construction, but both lanes opened whenever possible.
The road that ran to the north to Yellowknife was closed until Saturday afternoon, which means that residents could not go to Yellowknife.
At 6 pm on Saturday, the NWT Environment and Climate Change Department said that a forest fire to the northern Fort Providence had seen an “extraordinary growth.”
Richard Lafferty, who lives near the road in Fort Providence, told CBC News that the weather has been extreme in the community.
“The treetops are greeting in the wind, the sky is an orange blue and smoke in abundance,” he said.
That fire, which had been 24 kilometers on Friday, is now 12 kilometers from the community. He has crossed the highway 3.
The department said the teams are creating sprinklers and water cannons to help protect Fort Providence.
Speaking to CBC on Saturday night, Arlene Evans, manager of the Fort Providence Northern store, said they will have gas and food for all who need it and plan to stay open during the time they need.
Evans said it is extremely smoked in the community.
“He is snowing ashes here,” he said, “he is close enough and is large enough to send ashes to our path.”
An employee of the Big River service station, on the outskirts of Fort Providence Access Road, said that if an evacuation order enters into force, it plans to keep the time open enough to ensure that all those who need gas can obtain.
The employee said that the only reason he would close would be if the authorities ordered them to do so.
The Big River station and the northern Fort Providence store are the only two places to fill between Enterprise and Behchokǫ̀.
Evacuation Notice for the Jean Marie River
At 4:10 pm on Saturday, Jean Marie River First Nation issued another evacuation notice. The community of some 65 people has been seeing a nearby forest fire since the beginning of July, and raised its original evacuation notice last week.
A warning is the lowest in a three -level system that the territory uses for emergencies, and media residents must have their personal belongings prepared in case the situation changes. The second level is an evacuation alert and the most severe is an evacuation order, which means that people should leave.
In a publication to Facebook, the Hamlet described the warning reinned as a notice “to be aware and prepare.”
Residents are advised to maintain a complete gas tank at all times, are prepared to take personal items and be ready to leave if necessary.
In its 6 PM update, the territory said a forest fire about 12 and a half kilometers northwest of the Jean Marie River “grew significantly” Saturday afternoon due to the winds in the area.
He said that fire fighting teams are working to prevent him from approaching the community.
