Defensive lines have rapidly been carved into the earth surrounding several NWT communities threatened by wildfires.
In Yellowknife, close to 25 km of firebreak is essentially complete, Mayor Rebecca Alty said on Saturday evening.
鈥淲ith a lot of hard work leading up to today (Aug. 19), we鈥檙e in a good position when it comes to our defensive lines on the west side of our community,鈥� Alty said.
Water cannons, sprinklers, hoses and pipe line much of the route, a wide swath of cleared vegetation stretching all the way to Dettah.
It took more than 200 frontline staff and numerous pieces of heavy equipment to get the job done, according to Chris Greencorn, Yellowknife鈥檚 director of public works.
鈥淚ronically enough, in a city surrounded by water, it鈥檚 very hard to get it where we needed it to be but we鈥檝e managed to do that,鈥� he said.
All the effort represents essentially two City of Yellowknife full construction seasons executed in less than six days.
鈥淭his is no small feat and I can鈥檛 stress how truly impressive it really is,鈥� said Greencorn. 鈥淭he city would never have been able to accomplish this 鈥� or a fraction of it 鈥� without our friends in the contracting and volunteer community. There鈥檚 never been a more clear example of the Yellowknife and 黑料吃瓜网 spirit.鈥�
As of Saturday, the closest wildfire was 16 km from the NWT capital at its nearest point. The blaze was slowed somewhat by cooler temperatures and light rain on Saturday, but it鈥檚 expected to pick up steam again.
鈥淭his fire鈥檚 taking a nap. It鈥檚 going to wake up. We鈥檝e got a serious situation to handle here,鈥� said Mike Westwick, who handles communications for the Department of Environment and Climate Change.
READ MORE: Rain helps keep wildfires at bay 鈥� for now
In Hay River, the nearest wildfire had advanced to within eight kilometres from the town while in Fort Smith there was just four kilometres separating the community from the flames to the south.
Parks Canada stated on Sunday that the Wood Buffalo Complex 鈥� the name given to a group of wildfires 鈥� had grown to an extraordinary 408,803 hectares.
A total of 250 personnel, 55 pieces of heavy equipment and 25 helicopters joined forces to combat the massive inferno.
鈥淥ver the coming days, crews will work to complete a continuous control line using mechanical guards, sprinkler lines and natural features that runs south of Highway 5 from Salt River all the way to Fort Fitzgerald (Alta.),鈥� Parks Canada stated. 鈥淪tructural protection personnel will finish work in the Bell Rock area today and will begin setting up in the Tamarack area. In the coming days, teams will work towards having all structural protection or natural control lines around all values at risk between Salt River and Fort Fitzgerald.鈥�
