Highway 1 partially closed east of Jean Marie River, N.W.T., as fire grows to 1,500 hectares

What you need to know about the N.W.T. wildfires as of 7:00p.m. Friday:

• Evacuation notice issuedfor Fort Liard, telling residents to prepare in case they need to evacuate
• N.W.T. Fire says firehas crossedLiardRiver, increasing risk to FortLiard
• High winds preventing firefighting aircraft from taking off
• Highway 7 closed due to B.C. wildfires
• Highway 35 in northern Albertaclosed due to fire near N.W.T. border
• Highway 1 closed due to wildfire betweenJean Marie River access road and Highway 3 junction
• For more information visit the N.W.T.public safety website

A wildfire that is now 1,500 hectares in size has closed part of Highway 1 about 72 kilometressoutheast of Jean Marie River, N.W.T.

The fire is about 100 kilometres west of the Enterprise junction at Highway 1 toward Fort Simpson.

"It's grown really, really quickly," fire information officer Mike Westwick told CBC News on Friday afternoon.

The fire is from a previously undiscovered holdover fire from last year.

Westwick said his team is "working to assess that and take the right actions."

He said the quick growth was driven by extreme wind.

Westwick said no communities are currently under threat.

The fire comes after N.W.T. fire officials warned of a "major wind event" expected in some areas of the territory on Friday, along with warm, dry conditions significantly raising the risk of wildfire.