NWT wildfires: Hay River mayor says she will “never forget” sight of fire “roaring” towards town

Last night myself my two dogs and I evacuated with the Canadian Armed Forces many fire support service personnel and some remaining residents on the second herc flight to Edmonton we are thankful that Hay River has survived in much better condition than any of us imagined last night there are still challenging days ahead

But it has been the work of the nwt ECC fire crew from over a dozen other communities the military and especially our Hay River Department under Chief Travis Wright that we have a much brighter situation than it might have been we had 61 evacuated last night on

The first flight 105 military and a few others of us but it’s they sent them on to Calgary so the team here on the ground Alberta has done a phenomenal job accommodating our residents and and are still working very hard for the people of my community and

I can’t thank them enough for what they have done yes to those that haven’t left to be very aware of what’s going on we are going to I was in a briefing this morning and um we’ve got another day to recover and those are the days that these guys get a

Lot of work done and um as you can tell by what happened last night that that work worked you know cutting those fire breaks laying down retardant watering and watering and watering some more so those efforts definitely paid off the work that was done on these days where

Um you know you can see you can get aircraft in the air we know what’s going on with the fire and what she’s doing and so so yeah um but as for other people in the community my message would be like really be aware of what’s going on stay

Tuned in to you know and if it up at all possible please please leave the community I can’t stress that enough like this thing is the whole south of our community has fire that you know some of it’s sleeping some of it’s active and I guess we’ll find out

Um shortly what where it’s at and where it’s active we did know that the West part of this was going to be an issue in the South Side as well you know it’s running parallel to the highway out there um highway to Fort resins Fort Smith so

It hopped in a couple places last night so yeah be very aware before you decide to Drive South because of course it’s the conditions change all the time it was a roller coaster to look out the window and see that fire roaring towards your town was something I will never forget it was

Um you know I felt like I was abandoning the people that were working the hardest for us and that was a really tough one to come to terms with but it was time it was time to get out it was it was not a good situation and

Like I said those guys were I would follow them into any storm they were amazing they’re professional and they handle it with with such Grace and still teasing me about where are they going to eat supper so yeah it was tough to leave you’ve made relationships I’ve learned more in

The last two weeks about fire than I ever hope to have to use again but yeah

Mayor of Hay River Kandis Jameson said during a Saturday update on the Northwest Territories wildfires that there are “still challenging days ahead” but that it is a “much brighter situation than it might have been.”

Jameson described her emotions as “a rollercoaster, to look out the window and see that fire roaring towards your town is something I will never forget.” She added that she felt like she was “abandoning the people who were working the hardest for us” but that “it was time to get out.”

As of Saturday morning, N.W.T. Fire said structures in Hay River had been spared, along with the water treatment plant. The fire agency also believes there were no structures lost in the West Channel.

Essential workers were urged to reach the airport and seek further instructions. Most of the civilian population had already left more than a week ago due to the wildfire threat.

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