Yukon firefighters respond to 4 wildfires over weekend

Yukon firefighters could be facing a busy summer, saysGeorge Maratos, fireinformation officer with Yukon Wildland Fire Management.

'We had four incidents over the May long weekend and they were all human-caused fires, which is obviously a concern given the extreme conditions across most of the territory," he says.

Maratos says Yukon's firefighters are bracing for a tough summer.

"It looks like it's going to be different than last year, in terms of how busy we might become," he says.

Farmer's equipment sparks fire

Maratos says firefighters are still working to fully extinguish a fire sparked at Fox Lake, in the Whitehorse district, onMay 18. He says a farmer was watering a fieldand exhaust from a piece of equipment started thefire.

Firefighters have been using helicopters to contain the burn, which is estimated at about one hectare.

Other fires have been sparked by careless recreational burning.

Maratos says afire in Tagish resulted from threesmall bonfires being abandoned and becoming one large fire. Maratos says that fire was also extinguished by helicopter before it spread.

"The conditions are so dry right now, to have a fire that was lit and folks just walk away it's a big concern."

Early in season

Maratos says this year's conditions are drier than normal.

"Last year we didn't see extreme conditions like this throughout the year at all, and here we are, the third week of May, we already have extreme to high conditions," he says.

The fire risk is now consideredhigh or extreme in the areas around Carmacks, Haines Junction, Mayo, Ross River, Watson Lake, Whitehorse,Dawson City, Beaver Creek and Teslin.

The territory's sole community with a low fire risk isOld Crowwhere "winters tend to last a bit longer,"says Maratos.

CBC North meteorologist Christy Climenhagaexpects thunderstorms inparts of Yukon this week, withcentral Yukon at risk of seeing storms on May 19 and thesouth having ahigher thunderstorm risk on May 20.

Maratos says the rain is welcome, but lightning is always a concern.