WHITEHORSE – A fire information officer for the Yukon government is warning residents that despite cooler weather and significant headway made on current fires, there are still opportunities for more wildfires.
Since June 18, full response crews have put out 29 of 34 fires in the province and the remaining five have been contained, says Mike Fancie.
Fancie says the forecast shows “average” conditions over the next week and though southeast Yukon may experience a warm weekend, extended dry weather is not expected.
He says the blaze of most concern is the Wrong Lake wildfire near Stewart Crossing, where an evacuation alert remains in place despite it being classified as “being held,” meaning it’s not expected to spread.
The territory says prescribed burning for areas south of Stewart Crossing and in the Whitehorse South Fuel Break are planned.
Fancie says the burning is being done to reduce wildfire risk, but it could mean smoke may be more visible.
He says there is one fire along the B.C. boundary, the Hook Creek Fire, that it is managing alongside the BC Wildfire Service.
He says that fire, which is 355 hectares in size and is burning out of control in B.C., is not threatening the Alaska Highway, though drivers may see smoke.
Fancie says the territory is only involved because there are properties along Swan Lake that may be impacted, “and not because we’re concerned about a broader fire spread into the Yukon.”
Yukon’s wildfire dashboard on Wednesday showed there are about 80 fires burning in the territory. It says more than 83,000 hectares have burned during this fire season.
Fancie says it’s still early in the wildfire season, but current weather conditions and forecasts are favourable.
“It’s easy for us, especially here in Whitehorse, to see the rain that’s happening today, the cooler temperatures that we’ve experienced recently here and say, ‘well it’s over now,’ but I think that we still have lots of opportunity for fires to catch and ignite under the wrong conditions,” he said.
“There’s no washout right now in the forecast, but neither is there any extended drying that could cause us trouble.”
Richard Mostyn, minister of community services, told a news conference Wednesday that since last Tuesday, central and northern Yukon has had cooler temperatures along with scattered rain and higher humidity.
“These conditions, combined with the work of our wildfire crews have helped make significant progress on wildfires in Mayo, Dawson and Stewart crossing areas,” he said.
The territory rescinded an evacuation alert for the Village of Mayo on June 29.
“We’re certainly not finished with our fire season, but it’s nice to know progress is being made and there has been success in reducing the risk to Yukoners,” the minister said.
But Mostyn is encouraging people to take steps to prepare in the event of an alert.
“There are some things you can do to make it a little bit easier for you if you were forced to evacuate: make a plan for what your family would do in an emergency, like a wildfire threat in your home and you need to evacuate, run through it with your loved ones, and plan.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 10, 2024.
