2 cabins burn down south of Wrigley due to wildfire
CBC
Two cabins south of Wrigley, N.W.T., have been destroyed by wildfire, the Northwest Territories government reported Tuesday.
One was a cultural cabin owned by the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation and is believed to have burned more than one week ago, according to a news release from Mike Westwick, the territory's wildfire information officer.
The other is believed to have burned over the weekend when the fire "took a 15-kilometre run during extreme fire weather."
The loss of the cabins happened "despite tireless efforts by teams on the ground to protect structures in the area," Westwick said, adding that the community's leadership has been informed of the losses.
Westwick said heavy smoke and ash may have prevented fire crews from assessing all values in the area, and may be the reason behind the delayed discovery of the cabins.
"We never want to see folks lose things in fires," Westwick said. "We understand that these values are often important for social, cultural, and community wellness."
He said the wildfire team has been working "tirelessly to do whatever is possible to protect structures," while also keeping responders safe during wildfire season.
"The unfortunate reality is that these kinds of losses happen. In the N.W.T., we're in a landscape shaped by fire with things we value dotting that landscape. Sometimes, we're just not going to be able to make it in time."
Westwick said there is "absolute certainty" that the damage to the cabins was not due to the ignition operations which were used as a line of defence for the community of Wrigley against the wildfire. Ignition operations involve intentionally set fires used to burn fuel and slow down or stop the advance of a wildfire.
The territory's website says crews have been mopping up the burn areas to clear any residual burning from ignition operations. It says some hotspots were "found and dealt with" by crews in the phase one burn area west of Highway 1 toward the Mackenzie River.
"They were not occurring in the areas these cabins were found," Westwick said of the operations.
Twenty firefighters have been brought in from Saskatchewan to help N.W.T. firefighters.
There are currently 118 wildfires burning in the territory as of Tuesday afternoon, with 328,392 hectares of land burned this season so far.
Eligibility for trappers and harvesters compensation assistance from the department is being explored with the owners of the cabins, Westwick said.
For the first time in 111 years, items once belonging to the late Albert Mullins were back in the hands of his family members thanks to the detective work of one Montreal historian.
The year that saw the remains of two First Nations women brought home from a Manitoba landfill and a search get underway for the remains of a third showed how far reconciliation efforts have come — and how far they still need to go, the families say
The RCMP has just released a warning stating there are dangerous, armed individuals on Big Island Cree Nation, near Meadow Lake.
A new land-use plan that Alberta’s government has for the province’s Upper Smoky region is drawing criticism from environmentalists who say they believe it lacks sufficient environmental safeguards, which poses a significant threat to the endangered southern woodland caribou.
Canadian officials made pains to show they were cracking down on illicit drug production in the country in 2025.
A year after the City of Hamilton cancelled its overnight warming bus, it is funding a new all-night warming centre for men at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church on James Street S.
This year has, without a doubt, been a turbulent one for the Canadian auto industry. Uncertainty dominated the sector — both for auto workers hit with job changes and companies trying to manage a mix of tariffs and changing market conditions.
A woman died at a ski resort in the Canadian Rockies over the weekend, after falling into deep snow.
Two pregnant women who would otherwise be living in a cold tent. A man whose leg wound was so bad it required intravenous medication. Two young people who no longer need to couch surf to get by.
The province has added 12 kilometres of designated trails for all-terrain vehicles in western Prince Edward Island that will connect existing routes in O’Leary and Tignish.
Every year, CBC North publishes hundreds of stories online — breaking news, investigative reporting, political coverage, community features, longform storytelling, and much more.
After a wild year in Canadian politics that began with Justin Trudeau's resignation and ended with Conservative MPs crossing the floor to join Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government, 2026 is shaping up to be just as action-packed.
It became a rallying cry, a cultural touchstone, a marketing strategy and — our favourite — often described in international media as "a hockey term" or "a Canadian phrase."