Plane fighting wildfires with 3 on board crashes in Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories live fire map, June 25, 2026. (Government of Northwest Territories)

YELLOWKNIFE — A small plane directing the fight against wildfires in the Northwest Territories has crashed, with the fate of its three occupants not immediately known.

Neither Mounties nor NWT Fire confirmed Thursday if anyone on board survived the Wednesday night crash that occurred 50 kilometres from Fort Simpson, west of Yellowknife.

RCMP say officers have reached the crash site and are investigating. A Transportation Safety Board team is also involved.

They say the aircraft is a Turbo Commander 960 Bird Dog, which is typically used as an airborne command centre to co-ordinate firefighting operations.

Buffalo Airways says in a Facebook post that it was operating a Turbo Commander 690 on Wednesday that was involved in an incident.

“We ask that our crews and our company be given the space needed to support the investigation,” the company stated in a Thursday morning post.

Mike Westwick, a spokesman for NWT Fire, said in an email that authorities learned of the crash after the aircraft was deemed overdue. He said information on its occupants would be released when available.

NWT Fire said on Facebook that the plane was supporting wildfire suppression efforts on a blaze in the Marten Hills area.

The fire began on Tuesday. According to the territorial government’s website, the naturally caused blaze was about one square kilometre.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.