July 2, 2026 | 11:00 AM – Community Notice

Attention Residents Of Fort Simpson:

FS 016 is burning very close to Highway 1 Near Wildrose and can be seen in the trees at the back of the communication tower site. It has not moved much in the last few days, but with a bad wind change it could become a significant threat.

As of this moment, the situation could go any number of ways. The reality at this point is the fire is still active over a very large area, and until it can be contained completely, it will be unsafe to return. There are a few reasons why:

• The fire and smoke can obviously be deadly to those who become trapped.
• Sprinkler and hose setups on the buildings may become damaged or moved if too many people are driving over them, rendering them ineffective.
• Aircraft working in the area are flying fast and low to hit the fire, creating an overhead hazard.
• Firefighters working the area need to setup systems and FireSmart homes, usually on foot. If there are many vehicles coming and going it can become a hazard for the firefighters.
• All of the subdivisions on the hill are “intermixed”. This means that the houses and forest are very tightly packed together and even if there were no trees around the outside for a long way, a fire that starts inside the subdivision can quickly spread from house to forest to house.
• Because the fire is burning so closely, a spark could travel across the highway and light something on the other side, and from there begin burning as mentioned in the last point.

So far, ECC air and ground attack have been fighting the fire more directly, hoping to slow down or stop the fire. At the same time, structure protection crew’s setup and test systems to protect homes should the worst happen and the fire jumps across. By working in tandem, these teams can give the threatened homes a chance.

Due to impacts by the fire on Monday, the Village Landfill is currently a hazardous area and is closed to the public. Village Incident command is currently working on a temporary garbage storage solution that can be used until the Landfill can be remediated.

Since nobody is quite sure how the fire will progress, we cannot give an accurate timeline for lifting the evacuation order at this time. In the event the fire is brought under control, it would then take several days to clean up equipment and prepare infrastructure. Unfortunately, with no rain forecasted until mid next week, there is little to suggest the fire will “go away” on its own. For residents, it may be best to consider that the evacuation will last another 2 weeks from today, and if we are able to return earlier it will be a nice surprise. We are in close communication with ECC and will update this timeline as we get new information.

Residents who are not part of the incident operation should not return, as all services and resources are being dedicated to the fire and maintaining of critical infrastructure. It is understandable to want to be at home and look after your own things, but to allow people to come and go as they please creates a danger to themselves and others.

More updates to come.

Thank you, Mahsi Cho

VOFS Incident Command