110 degrees in Northwest Territories

For those of you who don't know how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, you take the 43.2 x 9/5 + 32 and it totals 109.76. It is so hot outside right now that as soon as you open the door to go out the heat hits you and it feels like your walking into an oven. Tomorrow's forecast calls for more of the same hot weather. Yesterday and today are the first two days in a week where the smoke wasn't so bad in my town that it was hard to breathe when you go outside, but with the heat it's still uncomfortable to enjoy the outdoors.

There are currently 144 actives fires and it is costing the Government of the Northwest Territories over a million dollars a day to fight these fires. We are in the third year of a drought and it's like a tinderbox up here. Our fire crews are so spread out and so exhausted that people who live in isolated areas are being asked to protect their own property, as the fire crews have to concentrate on protecting populated areas.

The most dangerous fire is along Highway 3 heading to Yellowknife. The road is closed again today because of the smoke and flames. Someone posted a cell phone video last week showing them driving down the highway with the flames right alongside the road. It was very scary. The second dangerous fire is along Highway 1 between Enterprise and Kakisa. The Yukon has send fire crews to help fight this fire, as the community of Kakisa was evacuated and the Lady Evelyn Falls campground is closed. Depending on which way the wind is blowing they have closed Highway 1 several times due to smoke, the rest of the time people require a pilot car to take them through the fire area. There is also a major fire near the Taltson Hydroelectric dam which resulted in communities on my side of the lake to have to go to backup power using the large emergency generators that each community has. Another large fire (which was the first major fire up here) is in Wood Buffalo National Park. Most of the fires surround Great Slave Lake, both north, south, east, and west.

We now have the problem that both northern British Columbia (BC) and northern Alberta are starting to face the same problem. BC now has 60 active fires and there is one fire straddling BC and Alberta. Also, there is no major rain in the forecast over the next seven days for either here, northern BC, or northern Alberta. They are calling for T-storms and dry lightning, which will probably start more fires.