Three wildland firefighters have died after an air tanker crashed in Canada's Northwest Territories. According to City News, the crash happened on Wednesday night while crews were fighting a wildfire west of Fort Simpson.
The aircraft went down during aerial firefighting operations in the area, in what authorities described as a tragedy for the territory. The crash claimed the lives of the three firefighters who were aboard.
The incident comes as the Northwest Territories is currently dealing with 30 active fires. The region is facing hot and dry conditions, which have kept firefighting crews under heavy pressure across the territory.
Those conditions have driven intense aerial suppression efforts, with air tankers used to slow the advance of the flames in remote areas that are difficult to reach by ground.
The Safety Board is investigating the crash in order to determine what caused the aircraft to go down. Officials are expected to examine the circumstances surrounding the operation at the time of the accident.
The deaths mark a heavy blow for the crews working to contain the fires, as the Northwest Territories continues to battle a demanding wildfire season under persistent hot and dry weather.
In a related development, authorities have now ordered the evacuation of the village of Fort Simpson itself as the wildfire continues to threaten the community. According to City News, about 1,300 residents were told to leave and head some 630 kilometres away to Yellowknife, with the last flight out of the area departing early in the day.
The Northwest Territories government said the fire near the community had grown to about 4.2 square kilometres, with daytime temperatures expected to climb to as high as 32 degrees, which raised the risk of the flames spreading further. Officials linked the evacuation to the same firefighting effort in which the three crew members were killed when their aircraft went down outside the village.