North Klondike Highway reopens as Yukon's wildfires 'subdued' by rain

Yukon's North Klondike Highway near Stewart Crossing was reopened to traffic on Monday, withemergency officials saying a change in the weatherhashelped them get a better handle on the wildfires in the region.

"Really, the main thing is that fire conditions are subdued because of all the rain,"said Haley Ritchie, an information officer with Yukon Wildland Fire Management.

"So it means less smoke, no risk of flames by the side of the highway that's really what it comes down to."

Ritchiesaid Monday morning that motorists may still have to follow a pilotcar through parts of the re-opened stretch of highway, depending on conditions. Shewarns that things could change again at any time, though.

"If it dries up, if the fire behaviour changes, then we'll have to re-evaluate again, unfortunately."

WATCH | Evacuation alertsin place for someYukon communities:

Yukon battles aggressive wildfire season

2 years ago

Duration 2:23

A travel advisory is in place and communities in parts of Yukon are under an evacuation alert as the territory grapples with an aggressive wildfire season, with more than 220 fires recorded so far this year.

As of Sunday afternoon, there were 166 wildfires across Yukon, from the Old Crow Flats in the north to the B.C. border in the south. Dozens of firefighters from B.C. are in the territory to help out, and a 150-person camp in Pelly Crossing has been set up to house them.

Evacuation alerts are still in place for communities in the area, including Stewart Crossing, Mayo, Elsa and Keno City.

But Ritchie says things were looking a little better on Monday, because of the changing weather.

"[Recent rain]doesn't necessarily mean it puts the fires out, but it does give us more time to confirm that those fires are under control and to action them," she said.

"But compared to last week, we're in much better shape when it comes to the fires around here."

Ritchie saidofficials are hoping for more "sustained rain" to help calm the fires, because right now it wouldn't take long for things to become dangerouslydry again.

Rain over the weekend has especially helped quiet fireactivity in the Watson Lake and Beaver Creek areas, officials said.

Meantime, a new130-hectare fire on the east side of Tagish Lake at Taku Arm was keeping crews from Yukon and B.C. busy on Sunday. Smoke from the fire was visible in the Southern Lakes region and the Alaska Highway.

A B.C. incident management team had also taken over fighting fires in areas of central Yukon, including the Crystal Lake and Willow Creek fires.

Firefighter Cody Wolfe was busy on the weekend, working to put in a control line to contain the Crystal Lake fire the territory's largest one so far this season. Hesaid crews were highly motivatedand morale was high.

"On average, we're probably working 12-, kind of 13-hour days. It's long days, but our crew is pretty well equipped and we kind of train for this type of work andthese long days," Wolfe said.

He said the terrain is a little bit different than what he's used to back home in B.C.

"Running into some of the frozen ground was a new one for us," he said.

Andre Chalabiis coordinating the response at the Crystal Lake fire. He said the goal was to keep it from spreading further north to the community of Stewart Crossing. Crews were putting in a control line while also dousing the fire with water, and then following the flames to put out lingering hotspots.

"The way the fire came through here, it dug deep in some areas so the crew isactively mopping up or putting out edge that is dug beyond the surface so, some roots are burning and some deeper stuff that could flare up later on," he said.

He said they'd made "good progress" on slowing the northward spread, but it would be a while yet before the fire was extinguished.

"This fire is of significant size and the terrain and timber type isfairly difficult to basically get around," he said.

"It won't go outuntil wintertime, or until we get significant rain."