Several new forest fires were detected in the Yukon over the weekend, prompting the recruitment of even more additional firefighting resources from B.C.

One of the fires burning in Dawson City's wilderness zone has jumped the Dempster Highway. It now has the potential to threaten traffic flow, George Maratos, the spokesman for Wildland Fire Management, said this morning.

'Highway staff are going to be sending out officials to assess the situation today,' Maratos said.

Traffic flow has not been affected so far, though the fire is burning on both sides of the highway at kilometre 280.

Fire officials are expecting numerous new blazes daily from lightning activity.

Maratos said while the forecast is for cooler and wetter temperatures across the territory, the weather can change quickly.

Fire conditions in the Dawson and Carmacks districts, for instance, have been downgraded from extreme to moderate. However, Dawson is expected to hit 25 degrees C today while the forecast is calling for 23 in Carmacks, Maratos pointed out.

With three new fires reported last night, there have been 20 new lightning-caused fires since Friday. They include the 830-hectare fire burning along the Dempster Highway and a 38-hectare blaze 25 kilometres west of Dawson.

Two 19-member sustainable action crews arrived over the weekend from Houston and Abbotsford, B.C., along with an airtanker group that includes two 802 Air Tractor retardant bombers, two Firecat bombers and a birddog aircraft whose job it is to guide the tankers on their drops.

He said it's the first time in the Yukon for the Air Tractors.

Also scheduled to arrive today from around B.C. is an eight-member incident team comprised of senior fire officials who are generally deployed to manage larger fires, Maratos explained.

In this case, as there are no fires of significant size requiring a specific management team, the officials will be filling in to give Yukon senior staff some time off.

The additional resources add to the 12 three-member initial attack crews who arrived from B.C. last week, along with another airtanker group.

No action has been taken on the fire next to the Dempster Highway because of its remote location, though numerous resources have been thrown at the 38-hectare fire west of Dawson.

The 31 firefighters deployed, including one of the two 19-member crews, are being supported by two helicopters and airtankers.

Of the new fires reported, some are being fought and some aren't, depending on location and the presence of any values, such are cabins.

Officials are reporting good progress on lightning-caused fires that started last week in the Haines Junction, Carmacks and Dawson districts.

Demobilization of crews working the 90-hectare Snag fire burning 13 kilometres northeast of Beaver Creek will begin today as an infrared scan has not registered any hot spots.