Evacuation order issued for wildfire-threatened Sambaa K’e, N.W.T.

An evacuation order has been issued in Sambaa K’e, N.W.T., according to the territory’s Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, as a wildfire burns nearby. In an email to CBC News early Wednesday afternoon, department spokesperson Jay Boast confirmed the evacuation order and said an evacuation centre was being set up in Fort Simpson. Fire says the fire near Sambaa K’e has consumed nearly 100,000 hectares of land on both sides of the border, including nearly 50,000 hectares of land within the N.W.T. The fire is about 30 kilometres south of Sambaa K’e, she said, but winds are expected to start blowing the fire toward the community. Sambaa K’e is a community of under 100 in the Dehcho, about 150 kilometres south of Fort Simpson.