No additional buildings lost to Hay River wildfire, heat warning issued for area

Despite challenging conditions on Sunday that pushed a massive wildfire toward Hay River, N.W.T., no additional buildings have burned, the city's mayor said Monday.

"[Firefighting]crews had a long day yesterday fighting the fires, but managed to fight it back and we didn't lose any structures,"Kandis Jamesonsaid in a news conference.

"It was a huge win yesterday."

Jameson did say the wildfire grew on its east side closest to the town on Sunday, reaching the junction of Highways 2 and 5, and the area of Delancey Estates.

"We're on the defence," she said, adding it's still too early for officials to plan a return for residents.

WATCH | Hay River mayor provides wildfire update:

Hay River, N.W.T., mayor provides wildfire update

1 year ago

Duration 27:12

Kandis Jameson, the mayor of Hay River, N.W.T., discusses the latest developments regarding a wildfire threatening the community.

The wildfire remains about 1.5 kilometres from the town's centre, one kilometre west of the airport and West Point First Nation, and seven kilometres south of theKt'odeeche First Nation Reserve. On the opposite side, it remains about 12 kilometres southeast of Kakisa, N.W.T.

While conditions are expected to ease slightly on Monday, Jameson said crews are facing another "battle" and the community is "not out of the woods yet."

Hay River Deputy MayorKeith Doheysaid he's still in the community, supporting wildfire crews.

"Many challenging days are behind us, unfortunately there are potentially many more ahead," he said. "These crews have our full support.Our thoughts continue to be with those that have lost homes and businesses in our community and our neighbouring communities, and with those that have been evacuated for weeks"

On Friday, a "blow-up event" caused a wall of flame to rush toward the community. The fire ultimately burned a cabin and travel trailer in its advance.

Essentially all non-firefighters that were left in the community were told to leave, including Jameson.

"It was very, very hard to leave, but it was the right thing to do," she said.

Jameson said Monday that there was some damage caused to power lines on Friday, causing some areas to be without electricity, but power was up and running again within 26 hours.

Heat warning until mid week

Early Monday morning, Environment Canada issued aheat warning for the region around Hay River and Enterprise, N.W.T.

It says "daytime highs reaching 29 to 35 C combined with overnight lows near 14 Cwill continue until mid-week."

"When you've got hot temperatures and low levels of moisture in the air, you get bigger fire activity," N.W.T. fire information officer Mike Westwick told CBC News Network Monday morning.

Westwick, a fire information officer with the territorial government, added, "We're going to be putting everything into pushing back on that."

"The key message from last night is that there were no structures observed lost, which is really a testament to the great work done by the team," he said.

Part of that work includes controlled burns to steer the fire into areas that make it easier for crews to fight the fire on the ground and from the air.

N.W.T. Fire issued an update at around noon on Monday.

"While winds will be lighter, the extremely dryconditions may cause significant fire activity, and could push fire to the north and east. Our firefighting efforts will be targeted to address these risks," it reads.

The update also stated there was likely going to be very poor visibility in the area, limiting support from aerial crews.