Evacuation preparations are underway in a First Nation community in Northwest Territories as a wildfire burns nearby.
The territory's No. 1 priority fire was burning about eight kilometres southwest of Whatì on Thursday, officials said.
Crews were trying to take advantage of favourable conditions after strong southerly winds earlier this week rapidly pushed the fire toward the community and shrouded the area in thick layers of smoke, said Mike Westwick, who works on the territorial government's wildfire response.
Those strong southerly winds were expected to return on Friday and could once again rapidly push the flames towards Whatì, making Thursday's efforts to fight the fire and prepare the community "extremely important," he said.
'We're putting in everything right now to make sure that this community is prepared and make sure that we're in a position to mitigate losses if the fire does encroach on the community," he said in an interview Thursday.
In Whatì, sprinklers are being set up around the community and the fire department is creating a water barrier along the lone road out of the community. The road runs south, back toward the fire, but Westwick said Thursday there was no immediate threat to the route based on the forecasts.
Helicopters were in the air Thursday making bucket drops on the edge of the fire, taking advantage of "much better visibility" compared to what crews had seen in recent days, Westwick said.
If Whatì does evacuate, people will be hosted in Behchokǫ́, the nearest community by road located about 160 kilometres away, said Sherbaz Muhammad, the community government's senior administrative officer, in an interview Thursday morning.
"I think we are ready for a possible evacuation, and it looks like it's going to happen," Muhammad said. "We've been hoping, wishing that we'll stay, but I think it's not just the smoke. It looks like the fire is so close."
A stretch of the drive to Behchokǫ́ is along Highway 3, where territorial officials are warning drivers of "extreme conditions," with flames visible in some areas and heavy smoke. Highway staff are patrolling the area and closures may be required, according to an update posted Wednesday.
The air quality in the region was considered a very high health risk as of Thursday morning, prompting widespread warnings from Environment Canada.
Fire crews were battling 10 out-of-control wildfires in the territory as of Wednesday, according to an update posted by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which helps to co-ordinate the country's wildfire fighting resources.
A heat wave had also descended over already dry parts of southern Northwest Territories, where drought conditions emerged in 2022 and have persisted since.
Those hot and dry conditions help fuel severe wildfires, with federal forecasts suggesting the area will be under extreme fire danger for at least another week.
"It's a third fire season of heavy drought and that makes the fires burn with greater intensity and be much more difficult to control," said Westwick.
Climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, is helping to increase the likelihood and severity of both heat waves, drought conditions and wildfires, scientists say.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2025
Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press
