Residents in the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories were directed to evacuate their homes as one of hundreds of wildfires sweeping the territory inches closer to the city. While thousands of people drove miles for safety, and waited in long lines for emergency flights, the fire showed no signs of easing. The fire was within 10 miles of Yellowknife's northern edge, on Thursday, and officials worried that strong northern winds could push the flames toward the sole highway leading a way out.
Ten planes carrying 1,500 passengers, had left Yellowknife said the director of corporate affairs for the Northwest Territories' Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Jennifer Young. She further added that they hoped to have 22 flights carrying 1800 passengers more, to leave on Friday. “I want to be clear that the city is not in immediate danger and there's a safe window for residents to leave the city by road and by air,” a government minister for the Territories,informed in a news conference. “Without rain, it is possible (the fire) will reach the city outskirts by the weekend,” she added.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre acknowledged that Canada had witnessed a record number of wildfires this year, with more than 5,700 fires burning more than 137,000 square kilometres.
1046 wildfires were burning across the country on Thursday evening, more than half of them were out of control. 268 wildfires had already burned more than 21,000 square kilometres in the Northwest Territories. Rebecca Alty, Yellowknife Mayor on Thursday night said that the fire wasn’t the one concern. “With the heavy smoke that will be approaching we encourage all residents to evacuate as soon as possible,” she said. Although the good news was that the fire didn’t advance as far as originally expected, she added. But “it is still coming,” she said.
About 6,800 people in eight other communities in the territory had already been forced to evacuate their homes. Authorities stated that the intensive care unit at a Yellowknife hospital would shut down on Friday while in-patient units from Stanton Territorial Hospital could be moved in the coming days. The Health and Social Services Authority said on its website that most long-term care patients were also transferred to institutions to the south. Officials further stated that evacuees who couldn’t find somewhere to stay could get support in three centers in the province of Alberta — the closest was more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) by road from Yellowknife.The evacuation order issued Wednesday night applies to Yellowknife and the neighboring First Nations communities of Ndilo and Dettah.
