Yukon declares state of emergency in Mayo due to wildfire threat

The Yukon government has declared a state of emergency in the Mayo area, as a wildfire continues to threaten the community that was evacuated on Sunday.

The Talbot Creek Fire was mapped at about 4,477 hectares on Monday and was still about four kilometres south of Mayo, across the Stewart River. The size of the fire was initially estimated to be about 7,476 hectares on Monday, but officials said GPS mapping showed the size has shrunk.  

The territorial government's emergency declaration under the Civil Emergency Measures Act covers a 15-kilometre radius from the centre of the community. In a news release on Tuesday, the government said the move follows a meeting with Mayo Mayor Trevor Ellis and Na-Cho Nyäk Dun Chief Dawna Hope.

In a statement, Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn said the declaration will help emergency responders, law enforcement and local officials "manage the situation, including making sure people stay out of harm's way."

"This declaration provides absolute clarity to our responders that they have full authority to protect persons and property, maintain and control the use of roads and streets, assist law enforcement and conduct any other activities considered necessary to save this community from fire."

Keeping fire south of the river

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Yukon fire information officer Haley Ritchie said weather conditions had been relatively calm in Mayo the day before, decreasing fire behaviour.

"So that's good, that gives us a good window for more structure protection, sprinklers. The goal right now is keeping the town site damp so that can really help defend against embers," she said.

"The big goal is keeping that fire south of the Stewart River."

High humidity overnight and some rainfall on Monday evening also helped firefighting efforts, officials said.

Ritchie said so far no homes in Mayo or the nearby area had been lost to the fire, but one "old, dilapidated" cabin in a remote area had been destroyed.

"We've been in communication with the owner of that structure, and it was a very old shed in the wilderness," she said.

Thirty-five wildland firefighters along with structural firefighters were installing structure protection in Mayo on Monday. Eleven firefighters from Saskatchewan were expected to join them on Tuesday.

Some stay behind

The evacuation order for Mayo is considered mandatory, though some residents have chosen to stay behind.

That includes Norma Mease, who has an 11-acre farm north of the village.

"We were told to get out and we told him we weren't going anywhere," she told CBC News on Tuesday morning.

"Because we have the animals and everything, and we're not taking animals, and we have big gardens and greenhouses and we've got water all around us."

Mease says some of her neighbours, also farm owners, have also chosen to stay behind.

"We just do what we always do. You've got a garden to weed, and I was making rhubarb jam yesterday, so you just keep doing it."

According to Ritchie, people who choose to ignore an evacuation order can be putting others at risk.

"It's very challenging if people stay behind and we don't believe it's safe.... We still feel an obligation of course to protect people," Ritchie said.

"It is a mandatory evacuation. So we're doing everything we can to to encourage people to follow our advice."

Many Mayo evacuees have made their way to Whitehorse, where some are staying with friends or family and others are being put up in local hotels by emergency support services. About 450 residents are subject to the evacuation order.

Simone Nicole MacDonald and her husband Darrell Charles Lucas live in Mayo, but they've spent the last six weeks on a summer road trip through B.C.

"My wife asked me, what do you want to do this summer? So I said, 'well, why don't we just get in the car and get lost, you know?'" Lucas said. 

They were in Watson Lake, Yukon, heading home this week, when they heard about the evacuation.

"It was shocking, you know, it was emotional," said Lucas.

"Couldn't sleep. Stressed out all day," said MacDonald.

On Monday, they were at the Canada Games Centre in Whitehorse, which has been set up as a reception centre and potential shelter for evacuees. They said the support they've received has been "awesome."

"The toughest part is not being able to go back and grab stuff, right?" Lucas said. The couple regrets that they can't go back home to retrieve family photos, or the boat that they rely on to hunt and fish.

"We're just going day by day, and we're hoping for the best and that's all we can do," Lucas said.