Residents of Fort Simpson, N.W.T., have been ordered to evacuate due to a nearby wildfire.

The Village of Fort Simpson issued the evacuation order at 7:10 p.m. MT on Sunday. A fire information officer told CBC News the fire is not expected to reach the community overnight.

The ferry is running 24 hours so people can drive out; the Northern Store is also open 24 hours.

“We do not yet have a time of arrival for evacuation aircraft. If you plan to be evacuated by plane, please make your way to the Rec Centre for assignment to a manifest,” the Village said in a Facebook post.

Residents are advised to head for Yellowknife.

Fire crews detected five new fires in the Dehcho region over the weekend. An evacuation alert was issued Friday evening after a fire was detected about 10 kilometres from Fort Simpson’s airport. As of Sunday, the fire was about seven kilometres away.

Earlier on Sunday, N.W.T. fire information officer Forrest Tower said there were some concerns about a number of wildfires adjacent to highways, but as of Sunday evening the route from Fort Simpson to Yellowknife was open.

The community of about 1,300 is approximately 600 kilometres, or a 7-hour drive, from Yellowknife, and requires crossing a ferry at the Liard River.

Highway concerns

Tower said earlier Sunday that the fire that’s “potentially concerning” for Highway 1 over the next few days is FS014, located south of Fort Simpson between the highway and the Liard River. It is currently 1.5 hectares in size and classified as out-of-control.

N.W.T. Fire said two other out-of-control fires – FS017, which is currently 30 hectares in size, and FS021, which is half a hectare – are also burning adjacent to Highway 1 between Wrigley and Fort Simpson.

N.W.T. Fire is responding with ground crews and making plans to get heavy equipment and aerial resources in place in case the situation escalates. 

Tower, who was deployed to Fort Simpson as part of the Incident Management Team from B.C., said conditions there on Sunday were smoky, which alleviated wildfire activity a “little bit” by limiting direct sunlight on the fire.

He also said temperatures are expected to significantly decrease over the next two to three days, with the potential for some rain as well.

“Whether it hits actually on the fire or not is always really hard to predict, but we’re looking at some positive trends in terms of temperatures and precipitation in the next few days,” he said.