Most Kakisa residents remain in wildfire-threatened community despite evacuation order

Most people living in the small community of Kakisa, N.W.T., have not left the community — despite an evacuation order due to a wildfire in the area, according to a territorial minister. 

Shane Thompson, minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, said during a news conference Saturday night that 30 people remained in the community. Kakisa, about 90 kilometres west of Hay River, has a population of about 40. 

Kakisa has been in the midst of a telecommunications outage, raising concerns they may not have got Thursday's evacuation order. 

"I've been in contact with the MP as well as the mayor of Fort Providence who is helping bring water into the community," said Thompson.

"The mayor of Providence has given a Starlink [satellite internet service] to them, so it's helping them communicate." 

Imran Khan, chief financial officer for NorthwesTel, said Saturday that technicians had been out all day repairing sections of the fibre optic line between Enterprise and Kakisa.

"Although we've had some success, not all the sections have been repaired," said Khan.

On Saturday night, he expected the outage in Kakisa to continue another 24 hours. 

CBC News has been unable to reach the chief of the Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation in Kakisa.

Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation Chief Kele Antoine said he became worried when Kakisa residents did not arrive in Fort Simpson, about 230 kilometres to the northwest, as the evacuation order directed. 

Antoine also said Friday he had spoken to someone in Fort Providence who had visited Kakisa and found that they had been unaware of the evacuation order. 

The community is threatened by the same fire as Hay River, which is also under an evacuation order. As of NWT Fire's last update, the fire was 14 kilometres away from Kakisa and eight kilometres away from Hay River. 

N.W.T. Fire said sprinklers are in place in Kakisa to protect structures if the wildfire draws closer. Heavy equipment was also being used to curb the fire's growth toward the community.