July 9, 2026. | 5PM – Community Fire Update

Attention Residents Of Fort Simpson:

Good news everyone! It rained quite a lot overnight and this has really reduced the potency of the fire. Now before you go packing your bags and filling your gas tanks, it would be best to understand that it is not quite time to return. The several hundred people that are working to protect the community want to be completely sure that we will be okay when they leave us, and to that end will be spending the coming days doing damage assessments, hotspot suppression, and fuel removal around the affected areas. This way, if some hot weather dries everything out they are still here to respond.

During this time, weather and progress on these tasks will start to give us a clearer picture of return dates. If the fire becomes very active and threatens houses again, the timeline will be pushed back and the incident may extend further. Right now the signs are very positive, though they could change. Based on the time required to do these tasks and others, it will be another 7-10 days at least before they go and you can return. The end is in sight, we can push through!

Mahsi Cho, Thanks,

 -Village Incident Command