Wildfire threatens Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., as evacuation continues

A wildfire continues to threaten homes in the community of Fort Good Hope, N.W.T.

As of about 7:15 a.m. local time Sunday, Fort Good Hope Chief Collin Pierrot told CBC News that no structures in Fort Good Hope were damaged in the fire overnight.

“They managed to hold it off,” Pierrot, who is in Fort Good Hope, said. 

Pierrot said he thinks about 300 people of the community of just over 500 have left, with about 180 of those going to Norman Wells and and others evacuating by boat to a fish camp. 

He also said that the community’s airport was still open.

Pierrot said he thinks the fire may have burned to the end of the community’s airstrip, but conditions are still too smoky to be sure. 

He said he’s also still worried things could pick back up again today. 

“To be honest … we don’t know what kind of weather conditions are going to be thrown at us today,” he said. 

Fort Good Hope resident Rose McNeely and 15 members of her extended family left the community by boat last night. 

“I started thinking about my house, that’s the main thing,” she said. 

McNeely, her family and their pets are now waiting it out with about 100 others at a fish camp.

“I feel safe, really safe,” she said. “The fire was so close to the community.

“My cat is scared. It’s a new place for the cat so the cat is hiding somewhere.”

McNeely said she doesn’t remember anything like this happening in her community. 

“We’re up high so we could see the smoke from the town and then it moved right to the community. It was really black when it came more toward the community,” she said. 

More firefighting crews needed 

Pierrot said he hopes more firefighter crews are sent to the community on Sunday to help. 

He said although many people left by plane, it was a slow process because of the size of the planes in the community. 

“Not many people can get on the flight, 10 or 15, so we needed help to get larger planes,” he said. 

In an update at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, N.W.T. Fire said there was a high probability of structure loss in the community overnight.

The fire, which was about five hectares earlier in the day, had grown to an estimated 200 hectares, fire information officer Mike Westwick told CBC.

“It’s increased in size by about 40-fold since our last assessment,” Westwick said. “With the continuing winds and long periods of sunlight in the area, it is expected that that fire will remain active through the night.”

Westwick said winds began shifting to the northeast, which is likely to push the fire toward Fort Good Hope.

Fire crews were focused on holding the fire at the road, and N.W.T. Fire has been working to get more structure protection into Fort Good Hope.

“That work continues — we’re just doing absolutely everything we can to protect what we can as this extreme situation unfolds,” Westwick said.