The fire situation in the Yukon continued to be dire over the weekend.

A new fire on the east side of Tagish Lake is creating smoke that can be seen readily throughout the Southern Lakes region and from the Alaska Highway.

“Smoke from the new fire on the east side of Tagish Lake on Taku Arm is highly visible across the Southern Lakes and Alaska Highway,” Yukon Protective Services wrote in a social media post on Saturday.

“The fire – now estimated at 130 hectares in size – is being jointly managed with the B.C. Wildfire Service. Yukon initial attack crews and an airtanker assisted with initial attack (Friday) night, and are on site now connecting with property owners at nearby cabins and assessing structural protection options on the Yukon side.

“The incident management team from B.C. has taken command of the Crystal Creek and Upper Willow Creek fires along with several other fires in the Tatchun and Northern Tutchone regions.

“This will alleviate pressures on our fire management regional offices and allow Yukon initial-attack crews and officers to focus on potential new wildfires, and on controlling existing fires in the strategic and transitional zones.”

In better news, Yukon Wildland Fire Management announced this morning, “We have opened both the Robert Campbell Highway between Watson Lake and Ross River and the North Klondike Highway between Pelly and Stewart Crossing. Both roads have been assessed for fallen trees and other impacts from the fires and are open and safe for travel.

“Please note that conditions are subject to change at any time, so always check Yukon 511 for the latest. As well, there are active air quality warnings and smoke in Carmacks, Pelly, Dawson, Mayo, Stewart and the Silver Trail area.”

The government issued a travel advisory Friday morning, asking Yukoners to reconsider non-essential travel among communities.

The update added, “Existing fires in Watson Lake and Beaver Creek areas are displaying subdued fire activity after receiving precipitation last night.

“Some fires in the Mayo area also received varying amounts of precipitation and crews continue to work at controlling the fires.”

Resources continue to pile into the Yukon to help with the efforts to contain the blazes.

According to a report from the territorial government, “Over the past week, firefighters and support staff from British Columbia have been imported to the Yukon to assist Wildland Fire Management.

‘The request for assistance was made through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which co-ordinates the mutual sharing of firefighting resources between the Government of Yukon and other jurisdictions.

“Most of the imported personnel will be focusing their efforts on suppressing the Crystal Creek fire (MA-021) and the Upper Willow Creek fire (MA-029), both of which are impacting travel on the North Klondike Highway.”

The release stated, “To house these personnel, Yukon government has imported a self-contained fire camp from B.C. The B.C. Wildfire Service routinely sets camps up to house and feed firefighting personnel and support staff through the duration of an incident. The fire camp provides kitchen facilities, wash cars, warehouses, and incident management offices.

“The fire camp is being strategically set-up at Pelly Crossing to resource incidents in the Northern Tutchone and Tatchun fire management regions. Once fully established, it will house a total of 165 personnel, including:

• 6x unit crews (124 personnel)

• 8x initial-attack crews (30 personnel); and

• 1x incident management team and additional support staff (20 personnel).

The release added: “The high level of fire activity near Yukon communities has challenged our local firefighting resources. Once fully staffed up early this week, these sustained action resources from B.C. will alleviate pressures on our fire management regional offices and allow Yukon initial-attack crews and officers to focus on potential new wildfires, and on controlling existing fires in the strategic and transitional zones.”

There are currently 166 active wildfires in the Yukon.

Meanwhile, in the Keno City region, some residents aren’t happy with the situation.

Amber Smith, an outspoken local resident, told the Star, “Friday, we had a meeting with Wildland Fire in Keno.

“One of their primary objectives is to improve the information/communication flow. So they listened to our suggestions on how to improve things.

“For example, Mayo was out of fuel the other day, which would have a big effect on an evacuation,” Smith noted.

“That, coupled with the tech glitches we’ve experienced like the Internet being down, inability to process debit and credit transactions have made things more problematic.

“What contingencies are in place when all these problems coalesce? Those strategies should be communicated. So I think the emergency people are very interested in learning how they can put out the best, and most helpful information. We were pleased they came to talk to us today.”

While the people who attended that meeting were pleased in some respects, Smith said, “Our other frustration is that YG has been doggedly stubborn in refusing to re-activate our well.

“It would allow us to very quickly access water in case fire reaches us. We know WLF is under intense pressure and is stretched very thin. We have a resource in town that could help alleviate that pressure and allow Keno residents to protect themselves.

“Why won’t they do that?”

Mike Fancie of Wildland Fire Management told the Star late this morning there have been 11 new fires in the last 24 hours.

Most of them are located in the Ross River area in wilderness zones, and pose no immediate threat to people or property.

All continue to be lightning-caused. That includes the Tagish Lake fire on the border with B.C.

There have been 232 fires recorded in the Yukon so far, four times as many as the 25-year average at this point. There were 43 fires at this time last year.

“It’s definitely above-normal,” Fancie said.

There isn’t enough documentation available to say whether this is a record-breaking year, he added.

The cooler, wetter conditions today and expected for the next few days are helping firefighters in their bids to contol some of the blazes.