Yukon Wildland Fire Management is looking for truck drivers to help move crews, vehicles and equipment around the territory.
The agency is compiling a list of drivers with Class 3 or Class 4 licenses who can work one or two weeks at a time during what’s turned into a busy forest fire season. Local fire districts can contact drivers on short notice if they need ground transportation.
“It’s a variety of jobs,” Wildland Fire Management spokesperson Sarah Murray wrote in an email. “They could be driving supplies from Whitehorse to Mayo, personnel around the territory, or to and from a fire. Sometimes, when we have import crews we need trucks driven from one community to another so crews being flown to a fire centre have mobility when they get there. In short, all sorts of behind the scene logistics.”
Drivers need a clean record. People can contact David Johnson at 867-456-3969 or david.johnson@gov.yk.ca.
Catching a break
As of Saturday, there were 124 active fires in Yukon. Crews continue to work on fires threatening the Maisy May and Fort Selkirk historic sites. And they’re closely watching a new 300-hectare fire burning near Hungry Creek in the Dawson fire district. Crews backed by a helicopter fought a fire near Little Salmon Village in the Carmacks district. There were also three new spot-sized fires reported in the Mayo district.
But cooler temperatures and lots of rain have lowered the immediate risk of forest fires across much of Yukon. The fire danger rating remains high in Whitehorse and Haines Junction, but is low to moderate everywhere else in the territory.
Murray said the break in the weather should allow crews to get some of the larger fires under control. “With warmer weather forecasted next week the downturn will allow busy regions to work on priority fires,” she wrote.
A total of 170 fires have burned nearly 70,000 hectares of land this summer.