Fort Good Hope wildfire forces evacuation of Northwest Territories town

A wildfire reached Fort Good Hope in the Northwest Territories and forced the town to evacuate. On Monday morning no buildings had been lost but an official warned there is risk.

A wildfire, which officials suspect was caused by an abandoned campfire, reached the edge of Fort Good Hope, a  Northwest Territories town, within 24 hours of ignition and forced residents to evacuate.

As of 6 a.m. MT Monday, the fire hasn’t destroyed any buildings, according to a government update. But an official speaking to Global News on Sunday said “there is a threat that structures could be lost.”

“Yesterday I was crying and kind of worried about my house, and thought I was going to lose my home,” Fort Good Hope resident Thelma Tobac said.

“Just not knowing what’s going to happen is scary and heartbreaking.”

She and her three children fled by boat across the river. During the interview a huge plume of smoke towered in the distance over the small town of about 500 people.

Fort Good Hope is nearly 800 kilometres from Yellowknife and can only be accessed by plane or boat. Officials and residents say being so remote creates challenges when fighting the fire and getting to safety.

“The fire was getting really close to the road, the access road to the airport,” Elizabeth Ewen, a Yellowknife musician in town for work, said.

“So that’s when the worry started to set in for me, when they weren’t too sure (if the fire would cut the road off). We were still waiting on the planes to come.”