Whitehorse Daily Star

Blaze is burning away from highway

Firefighters are continuing to establish building protection around Iron Creek Lodge and the Contact Creek Lodge and a number of residences at Contact Creek located along the Alaska Highway.

By Chuck Tobin on June 29, 2015

Firefighters are continuing to establish building protection around Iron Creek Lodge and the Contact Creek Lodge and a number of residences at Contact Creek located along the Alaska Highway.

The wildfire burning 72 kilometres east of Watson Lake was discovered Sunday near the Coal River Logging Road.

It’s believed to have been caused by lightning that rolled through the area last week.

“The fire is located 10 kilometres north of the Alaska Highway and burning very aggressively in mature spruce and pine,” Catherine Spence, duty officer for Yukon Wildland Fire Management, said in the daily update Sunday evening.

“Upon discovery, it was estimated to be five hectares in size and within six hours had grown to 1,000 hectares.

“Fortunately, at this time, it is burning away from the highway.”

While the fire is not currently threatening either location, the building protection is being established as a precautionary measure, says the report.

Firefighters are also maintaining building protection around the historic sites of Fort Selkirk in the Carmacks district and the Maisy May site in the Dawson district.

Four new fires were detected Sunday: one in the Carmacks district started by lightning and three in the Watson Lake district, two of which were lightning-caused and one which was started by an abandoned campfire but was quickly extinguished by firefighters.

Smoky conditions are expected to continue, as there are 107 active fires in the territory, most burning in the wilderness zone.

The 50 firefighters who arrived from B.C. and Alberta last week remain here to assist the Yukon’s 60 firefighters.

Yukon Wildland Fire Management has deployed additional crews today to the Watson Lake district.

Cooler, damper conditions have reduced the fire danger rating across the territory to low or moderate with the exception of the Whitehorse district, which was rated high this morning.

There has been a total of 175 wildfires to date, burning an estimated 91,368 hectares.

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