The Minto Mine decided today to suspend operations while forest firefighters conduct a back-burn to reduce forest fuels and strengthen the safety barrier around the mine site.

Capstone Mining president Stephen Quin told the Star it was not an emergency evacuation, but a precautionary measure, as the Minto fire is just over six kilometres away.

Should anything go wrong with the back burn, it would be easier to deal with 30 personnel rather than 100, he said.

"It was just precautionary,” Quin said from the company's head office in Vancouver. "The Wildland Fire Management said ‘you can stay,' but we decided it was better not to.”

Quin said the 70 workers were bused out of the mine site this morning, three days after Friday's initial decision to fly out about 50 personnel to reduce the number in camp.

The decision to conduct the back-burn was made Sunday in consultation with fire management staff.

The mill was shut down last night, he said.

Quin said in two or three days, mine management will assess the situation and determine whether to bring back an additional 10 to 15 personnel to begin preparing to fire up operations in five to seven days.

The 30 workers who remain on site include equipment operators who will help build the initial firebreak from which firefighters will begin their burnout.

Others include technical and camp staff required to maintain the mine site and employees who are trained in emergency response and firefighting, he said.

Capstone staff trained in firefighting, Quin emphasized, will not be involved in the back-burn.

As a further precaution, fire management has decided to install a sprinkler protection system around the Fort Selkirk historic site, fire information officer George Maratos said this morning.

The fire is still 19 kilometres southeast of Fort Selkirk, located at the junction of the Yukon and Pelly rivers.

"The fire may not reach the Fort Selkirk area, however the structural protection plan is being implemented as a precautionary measure.” reads this morning's fire bulletin.

"Today senior fire officials will be meeting with members of the Selkirk First Nation to update them on the current situation.”

Though the fire hazard in the Carmacks region has dropped to high from extreme because of cooler temperatures over the last couple of days, the area did not receive any rain, as was expected over the weekend, Maratos said.

He said the forecast for the region is for plus-20 temperatures all week, with no rain.

There are 19 fires burning in the Yukon, five of which are being fought – all in the Carmacks region, and all but the Minto fire are small.

A lightning-caused fire in the region's wilderness was the only new start over the weekend.

The fire in the wilderness zone of the Beaver Creek region grew from 250 hectares to 285 today, but is still several kilometres away from the Wellesley Lake Lodge. A fire crew did install a sprinkler protection system around the lodge last week.

The territory's two largest fires are burning in the Dawson region's wilderness zone – one at 20,050-plus hectares and the other at more than 15,000.

The Haines Junction region is the only area with an extreme fire danger rating. The rating through most of the Yukon is low to moderate.

While the ban on outdoor fires has been lifted for the Whitehorse, Watson Lake, Teslin, Haines Junction and Ross Rivers regions, Wildland Fire Management is urging Yukoners to only burn when "absolutely necessary and exercise extreme caution when doing so.”