Worst Yukon fire season ever

This is a record year for forest fires in the Yukon, according to the head of the Northern Affairs fire management department.

Keith Kepke said there have been 180 fires so far this summer, compared to the previous record of 166 set in 1975. "There's not much that compares to that," said Kepke, adding there were only 91 fires last year.

Kepke said fire management estimates of 87,000 hectares burned "are significantly low" because not all fire areas have been mapped.

The department's work is nowhere near over. A massive fire continues to burn in the Watson Lake area and could join the 160,000-hectare blaze burning along the Alaska Highway to the south in British Columbia. That would make the B.C. fire the biggest in that province's history.

Kepke said the two fires are about 12 kilometres apart, with the one in the Yukon stradling the boundary between an action zone and an observation zone.

Thick smoke has prevented planes from going out to map the blaze, he said, but "it doesn't appear to be moving to the south" in the direction of the B.C. fire. Kepke said the fire is believed to be heading east, away from populated areas.

There are no crews fighting the fire, he said. "If we see any more problem, we'll gear up for it."