Evacuation order issued for residents near Boundary Creek in N.W.T.

An evacuation order has been issued for people with homes or cabins along a section of Highway 3 in the N.W.T., as the Behchokǫ̀ wildfire has been pushed a little closer to Yellowknife on Friday.

As of Friday afternoon, the 114,000-hectare fire was burning out of control about 40 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife. Officials emphasized that the city is not currently at risk.

The evacuation order, upgraded from an alert issued earlier on Friday, applies to the section between kilometres 284 and 306 of Highway 3, which includes Boundary Creek. Property owners in the area are being asked to leave the area immediately.

The fire, burning north of the highway, was not expected to reach either the highway or Boundary Creek on Friday night.

"However, with extremely high winds expected to reach their peak later tonight, and the wind shifts we have experienced while responding to this incident, we are taking no chances," reads an update from emergency officials late Friday afternoon. 

Fire information officer Mike Westwick said Friday afternoon that crews had been "hitting that east side with air tankers as much as we can."

"It has grown, the fire activity has been much higher. The fire has progressed towards the east, as we expected," he said.

"We do not expect this fire to reach the City of Yellowknife anytime soon here."

Fire ban extended

A sweeping fire ban — the largest in the territory's history — has been extended for at least another week in the N.W.T. as firefighters battle multiple blazes in the region.

The ban covers more than a dozen communities through the North Slave and South Slave regions. 

It means there's a total prohibition on open fires, even in barrels or pits, and that all burn permits are cancelled. Fireworks, firecrackers, exploding targets, flare-style bear bangers (unless used in an emergency) are also prohibited.

Propane, gas or briquette barbecues are allowed.

The fire ban was first imposed two weeks ago for the entire South Slave region, and last week it was expanded to include the North Slave. 

In all, there were 197 wildfires burning in the N.W.T on Friday.

"There's a whole lot of fire on the landscape right now. There's a whole lot of fires that are needing to be managed by our teams out there," Westwick said. 

"The last thing that we should be wanting to do as folks out there using the land is to add to that burden by having needless person-caused fires."

Westwick recommended against having any open fire, even in regions not subject to a ban.