New fire burns northeast of Watson Lake, Yukon's lightning season begins

A new fire is burning inYukon'sTintina region, northeast of Watson lake.

Yukon WildlandFire Management saidthe 700-hectare blaze was started by a lightning strike on Monday evening.

• Extremely dry conditions as crews fight wildfire near Haines Junction

George Maratos, fire information officer,saidthe fire is large, but luckily it'sburning in a wilderness zone about 130 kilometres from the community.

He saida cabin is the only structure in the area.

"Wildland fire management is putting structural protection in place. So that is essentially removing brush and debris from around the cabin and placing sprinkler kits around the structure and directly on the structure."

Maratos saidthe fire is not expected to reach the cabin, but if it does, the sprinkler kits will be activated. The fire will otherwise be left to burn naturally.

The Tintina fire is the first lightning-caused fire of the year.Ten other fires this season have been started by human activity, including a fire started Saturday near Haines Junction that continues to burn.

Crews hold size of Haines Junction fire

Maratossaidfirefighters, helicopters and a large engine truck are continuing to fighta fire 40 kilometres northwest of Haines Junction.

Despite challenging conditions, he said crews were able to stop the fire from growing on Monday. It remains about 13 hectares in size, and crews willwork to contain thefire throughout the week.

"It's a challenging fire just because of the winds in the area and the fuels in the area, but good progress [was] made yesterday."

Maratos saidthe Alaska Highway is not impacted at this time, but recommends checking Yukon 511 before travelling towards Burwash.