Fire prompts state of emergency declaration

by CHUCK TOBIN  Star Reporter

Fire continues to threaten Burwash Landing while 60 or so community members who were told to leave Sunday anxiously wait for news of their homes and possessions.

In response to the wildfire started by human activity near the community dump, Government Leader Piers McDonald has invoked a state of emergency, the first ever such declaration by the Yukon government.

"We are recruiting additional firefighters and resources from Marsh Lake, Carmacks, Carcross, Haines Junction and Destruction Bay, Golden Horn and Ibex Valley and they are in doing protective work for the structures in the community," government spokesman Doug Caldwell said this morning.

No injuries have been reported as a result of the Burwash fire, but some houses have been "damaged," Caldwell confirmed.

The government is also closing the Alaska Highway to both north- and south- bound traffic between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., the peak burning period. There are, however, provisions being made for a pilot vehicle to take traffic through the fire zone, conditions permitting.

Officials at the Whitehorse forest fire centre said this morning they've asked the central Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre to provide two fire management teams, as well as additional initial attack crews.

Caldwell declined to say whether the three to five Burwash homes touched by fire were destroyed, indicating he did not "want to define 'damaged' right now because I am not an insurance adjuster and I do not know the difference in the definition of damaged and destroyed."

The spokesman for the Emergency Measures Organization said he's been told fire activity on the Burwash blaze is volatile.

"The visibility, I heard last night, you could not see the hood ornament on your truck, so they shut (the highway) down," he said. "There are also reports of some very significant flames right beside the (North Alaska) highway as well."

Forest fire officials at the Whitehorse fire centre, the territory's forest fire command post, estimated the Burwash fire at 2,500 to 3,000 hectares, with not much weather relief in sight.

Federal fire spokeswoman Paula Webber was also unable to confirm the extent of damage to the Burwash homes but said at least three were hit by fire and possibly another two.

"There was a lot of talk down there …but we have not got confirmation numbers yet," she said this morning. " I would say three to five for sure and there was one small hut next to the Duke River trading post … like a local ice cream stand, that is gone."

Southeast winds fanning the Burwash fire are expected to gust between 30 and 50 kilometres an hour this afternoon, Webber said.

"It's supposed to back off a little bit this afternoon but tomorrow does not look good," she added. "Winds are going to be increasing Tuesday."

Webber said officials here don't yet know where in Canada additional resources will be coming from, having only made the request this morning. The central agency, she explained, will shop around the country to see which province or territory can afford to release management and initial attack staff.

One of the three air tanker groups in the territory has been dedicated to the Burwash fire. Another has been sent to the 450-hectare Moosehide fire on the edge of Dawson city (see p.3). and the third has not yet been committed.

Although the Burwash fire was caused by human activity, the majority of the 23 new starts over the weekend were caused by lightning strikes up and down the Tintina Trench.

Another four fires are reported in the Mayo area but they have not yet been staffed.

Lorne Gay, acting manager of forest resources for the federal government, said the hazard for most of the territory is high to high extreme.

All open fires, aside from those in approved campground fire pits, have been banned in all Yukon communities, with the exception of Old Crow.

"And even that may change," Webber added, noting temperatures at the territory's most northerly community are expected to reach a rare 30°C today.

Gay said even with the cooler than normal spring accompanied by frequent rain and sometimes snow flurries, the ground is still very dry because of a droop in the Yukon's average amount of precipitation over the last few years.

Webber said when she went to the Burwash fire Sunday, it was odd to still see snow in the mountains, even some ice on the bodies of water and, at the same time, a blazing inferno.

"We had this cool wind coming off the lake and a rank-five fire right in front of your face."

Caldwell said with McDonald declaring the state of emergency, government staff have increase authority in order evacuations and such, as well as the ability to access financial resources.

Evacuees who've been put up in Destruction Bay, Haines Junction and Whitehorse, for instance, are having their lodging and food expenses covered by the government.

Just how the financial assistance extends in a state of emergency, whether it will provide compensation for Burwash residents who've lost property, Caldwell said he wasn't sure at this point.

Expenses for transporting crew and equipment from other community fire departments, their lodging any per diems and related costs will also be covered by the emergency fund, Caldwell said.

He pointed out that while resources from the Gold Horn and Ibex Valley volunteer departments are in Burwash, the City of Whitehorse has agreed to assist those areas with its fire fighting resources should a need arise.

It's the first time the city has made available its resources to those areas, Caldwell said.

Since the Yukon government took over responsibility from Ottawa for state of emergencies in the early 1980s, he added, it has never invoked a state of emergency.

Recent evacuations, like the Old Crow evacuation when the community was threatened by the swelling Porcupine River, have been carried out under normal response procedures, he said.