Residents along Little Salmon Lake and the Magundy River drainage corridor next to the Robert Campbell Highway are being told they could be ordered to evacuate on short notice due to a wildfire in close proximity.

"I want to stress that this is not an evacuation order and these properties ... are not at immediate threat," Gerry Trudeau, the Carmacks duty officer for Yukon Wildland Fire Management, said this morning.

"This is a measure to better prepare both our staff and citizens living in the impacted area should the fire become more threatening and an evacuation order be required."

Fire officials are keeping close tabs on the lightning-caused fire burning 65 km northeast of Carmacks. Four helicopters and 44 personnel are currently working to contain the blaze.

"However, aggressive fire behaviour combined with volatile conditions has made suppression efforts challenging," reads today's fire bulletin from Wildland Fire Management.

The public is being asked to assist with pre-evacuation planning. Information stations have been established at both ends of the affected area where residents can register in the event an evacuation order is issued.

To date, the fire, known to crews as Carmacks 4, has burned more than 18,500 hectares.

On Monday, three new fires - all lightning-caused - were identified.

Two were spotted in the Watson Lake district yesterday morning and a third fire, estimated at 100 hectares, burns near the Yukon-N.W.T. border.

This summer, the territory has experienced 107 forest fires, and more than 60 continue to burn.

While Mother Nature's lightning strikes are responsible for starting 78 of those fires, it's not for lack of trying that humans have caused just 29 of the total.

Despite a Yukon-wide fire ban implemented July 28, on five separate occasions last weekend, officials confronted individuals who had either ignored or were unaware of the ban .

"I know we had a few that were tourists who weren't aware of the situation," said George Maratos, the Wildland Fire spokesman. "There were five incidents where we were required to visit the site and explain there was a ban."

Maratos could not confirm a report that a Wildland fire helicopter landed at Fox Lake, about 90 km north of Whitehorse, over the weekend to order a campfire burning there to be extinguished. An area resident told the Star about that incident on Monday.

Another report of a helicopter buzzing individuals at Jackson Lake also flaunting the campfire ban could not be confirmed.

Eyewitnesses at Jackson Lake said the violators quickly extinguished their fire when they were faced with hovering aircraft.

No charges have been laid in any of the incidents.

In addition to Yukon resources and personnel, an Alberta air tanker group and firefighters from the N.W.T. and Alberta are providing the territory assistance battling blazes that have destroyed more than 150,000 hectares of forest.

Each of the Yukon's 10 fire management districts have experienced fire this season but Dawson City, Watson Lake and Carmacks took the brunt as each region has lost more than 30,000 hectares of forest.