The cooler wet weather this summer has not only kept the number of forest fires down but limited the number of evacuations of smaller communities in the far north.
Kap Fire Chief and Evacuation Committee chairman Pat Kennedy says this situation has certainly allowed committee members to enjoy a more normal summer.
“And this is the second summer I haven’t had to cancel vacation or time off,” he said. “That includes many others town staff and partners who had to also cancel vacation to support an evacuation.”
Kennedy says except for 452 Kashechewan residents that were here in the spring because of flood concerns that’s been about it.
It definitely factored into a big advantage of not having anyone get smoked out of their homes or potentially or lose their homes due to forest fires,” he said.
The town has been part of the evacuation program since 2005, and Kennedy recalls that 2008-2009 was the lone year when the town didn’t host any evacuees at all.
