Major forest fire north of Deline, N.W.T.
N.W.T. firefighters are playing close attention to a major forest fire about 18 kilometres north of Deline.
While there is no threat to the community at this point, officials say it's burning out of control and is around 500 hectares in size.
On Thursday, fire crews tried to tackle the fire, but have since backed off to reassess the situation.
Frank Lepine, manager of fire operations for the N.W.T. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said fire analysts are on site devising a new strategy to help prevent it from moving towards the community.
“The fire is displaying extreme fire behaviour,” he said. “The fire is in the crowns of the trees and embers are spotting 400 to 500 feet in front of the fire, igniting new fires in the fire’s path.”
There are fire bans in effect for all North Slave and South Slave Territorial Parks and fire bans have been issued for the municipalities of Yellowknife and Fort Smith.
In total there have been 47 fires reported in the N.W.T. so far this year.
