Eagle mine evacuated as out-of-control wildfire near Keno City, Yukon, grows
CBC
An out of control wildfire continued to grow northwest of Keno City in the Yukon this weekend, forcing an evacuation of over 200 people from the nearby Eagle mine site.
The mine, along with most of South McQuesten Road in the Dublin Gultch Area, was put on evacuation alert Monday. At the time, the fire, which is burning in an unpopulated swath of wilderness, was estimated to be about 2,600 hectares in size. It's since grown to over 3,500 hectares.
That forced Yukon Wildland Fire Management to issue the evacuation order for the Victoria Gold-owned Eagle mine on Saturday evening. The rest of the Dublin Gultch Area remains on alert.
"I don't have an exact figure, but it's very close [to the mine]," fire information officer Mike Fancie told CBC Sunday morning.
He said the decision to evacuate was difficult, but the fire has grown too far beyond the control of the current response, which includes 24 firefighters, an air-tanker group, helicopter and "incident management team."
Crews are still fighting the fire, and a small group is still at the Eagle mine to manage the site and help with the response, but about 240 people have been evacuated, Victoria Gold CEO John McConnell said.
McConnell said he's optimistic about the coming days.
"We've got a lot of sprinklers and water monitors, and I'm fairly confident we can protect the infrastructure," he said Sunday.
"The firefighters did make some progress yesterday and into the night, so we're cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to get crews returning to the site as early as tomorrow."
McConnell said there are no environmental concerns should the fire reach the mine site, as there are no tailings ponds there. With most workers now gone, the main threat is to the site's infrastructure.
He said he hopes to sit down with the Yukon government after the evacuation lifts to see how the fire response could have improved in the early days of the fire, which started July 20, to prevent similar drastic measures in the future.
The Yukon government was unable to make anyone immediately available for comment on the fire response.
The mine's Yukon workers have now been evacuated to their respective homes, McConnell said, while others have been flown to Vancouver. A few dozen have also been sent to nearby camps off the Silver Trail Highway, owned by Banyon Gold Corporation.
"That's what you do when you're a neighbour," said Banyan's president and CEO Tara Christie.
James Benesh was so interested in researching an online hockey draft, he ended up with one of the largest-known collections of hockey books and eventually being called a hockey historian.
A recent market and fundraiser showcasing Palestinian-owned businesses in Hamilton, including new start-ups by people from Gaza who now call the city home, was met with “incredible” support, organizers say.
This time next year, Joellah Fletcher plans to be prepping or taking her final exams to become a certified Red Seal carpenter.
East of the small village of Coutts, Alta., a stone’s throw from the border with the United States, Cindy Bosch’s day-to-day life looks much like it did a year ago.
For years, police have been on the front lines of mental health crisis calls in Toronto, but the city's police chief believes it's now time to rethink that approach.
One of Prince Edward Island’s last surviving Second World War veterans has died.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada has too much regulation and not enough investments in clean energy and technology — and he's making his most direct repudiation yet of his predecessor's environmental policies.
WARNING: This story contains distressing content, including racist, violent and antisemitic language.
A national Jewish advocacy organization is taking legal action against Manitoba's medical regulator over a complaint it made last year alleging a prominent doctor made antisemitic comments on social media.
A cat that went missing in a remote area of northeastern B.C. is finally back home with its family in Oklahoma, five months later.
It wasn’t clear trolleys would be a hit in Medicine Hat, but the Sunshine Trolley has wound its way into Hatters’ hearts.
More than 200 volunteers and politicians gathered in Etobicoke Saturday for the Daily Bread Food Bank’s holiday sort.
The rising cost-of-living has already made supporting a family difficult this year. But, the holidays can make staying on budget that much harder.