Highway 1 in N.W.T. reopens, could close 'with little notice' as wildfire continues to burn

Highway 1, between Fort Simpson and Wrigley in the N.W.T., re-opened again late Sunday morning but the territorial infrastructure departmentsaid it could close again "with little notice" as a wildfire continues to burn in the area.

The fire, according to an 12:00 p.m.update on the department's website, is about 120 hectares in size and a kilometre away from the road which isthe same information provided Saturday evening.

It's been named FS-015, and it was caused by a lightning strike earlier this week.

"This fire has exceeded fire suppression efforts at this time," theinfrastructure department said. "There is no risk identified to communities in the area."

The stretch of road has been closed on and off throughout the weekend, as a result.

The blaze had previously been threatening cabins about 65 kilometres northwest of Fort Simpson. At the time, it was just onehectare in size and the territorysaid it was "out-of-control."

As of noon Sunday, the infrastructure department said there had been one new wildfire in the past 24 hours and that there were 27 active fires in the territory in total.

Twelve, including FS-015, are in the Dehcho region, one is in the South Slave region, 11 are in the North Slave region, two are in the Sahtu region and one is the Beaufort-Delta region.