Thousands evacuate Canada’s northernmost city as fires grow
Residents of Canada’s most northerly city have been told to evacuate as wildfires spread through the northwest territories.
The evacuation order requests that Yellowknife’s 20,000 residents leave by noon on Friday, as the fires extended to less than ten miles from the municipal borders and are set to reach the city by Saturday morning. The order also applies to the surrounding towns of Ndılǫ, Dettah and Ingraham Trail.
Other local communities in northern Canada have already suffered mass destruction as the wildfires spread throughout the region.
Kandis Jameson, mayor of the town of Enterprise, said it had been 90 per cent destroyed, while the nearby community of Hay River was “running out of time” to evacuate.
A family escaping from Hay River said their car began melting around them as they drove away after an evacuation order was issued on Sunday. “It was honestly insane. When I got out of our vehicle in Enterprise, I just cried,” a woman told CBC.
The latest fires come as the US state of Hawaii is still reeling from a devastating wildfire which left 111 dead and wiped out almost the entire town of Lahaina.
It is also just two months since more than 150 fires broke out in Quebec province, forcing 10,000 people from their homes. Thick smoke from the fires blanketed the east coast of North America, prompting warnings by authorities to wear masks outdoors as far away as New York City, where some Broadway performances were cancelled due to stars suffering breathing problems.
Premier Caroline Cochrane urged residents to follow the order to leave. People have been asked to stay with friends and family where possible, with Calgary set to act as the main “hub” for those fleeing the fires.
“I know we are all tired of the word ‘unprecedented’ but there’s no other way to describe the situation in the Northwest Territories,” she said.
“We must take steps to stay calm and not make decisions that are going to put other people and yourselves in danger. When you don’t evacuate, you put yourselves and you put our first responders at risk.”
One man told a CBC radio reporter that he was sent to an evacuation centre more than 600 miles from home, in northern Alberta. “They’re dispersing us all over the place,” he said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was expected to convene an urgent meeting with ministers and senior officials on yesterday to discuss the evacuation.
Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year – contributing to choking smoke in parts of the US – with more than 5,700 fires burning more than 137,000 square kilometres (53,000 square miles), according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
As of Thursday, 1,053 wildfires were burning across the country, more than half of them out of control. In the Northwest Territories alone, 268 wildfires have already burned more than 21,000 square kilometres.
When you don’t evacuate, you put yourselves and you put our first responders at risk Caroline Cochrane