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Equipment brought in to protect community
July 28, 2008, Hay River, N.W.T. - Firefighters are pulling more tools out of their arsenal to keep a forest fire away from Sandy Lake, N.W.T.
July 28, 2008
By The Canadian Press
Residents in roughly 21 summer cabins were evacuated Friday and Saturday as
the flames crept closer to the community, about 80 km east of Hay River.
Judy McLinton, a fire information officer, said yesterday they had brought in
heavy equipment to shore up the defences for cabins in the area.
"There was a fire in Sandy Lake in 2004, and at that time, we built a fire
guard using bulldozers almost all the way around the community," she said.
"What we started (doing on) Saturday was to go back in there and widen that fire
guard."
Defending the area from the three-square-kilometre forest fire burning
roughly 10 km away has become a top concern because other structures are also
being threatened.
"We do have a couple of other bigger fires but this one happens to be
threatening some values at risk, so that makes it a top priority," she said.
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