Warnings have been issued that a wildfire might approach one of the main communities in the far north of Canada by the weekend, and as a result, the city has been evacuated.
Yellowknife, the administrative center of the territory of the Northwest, has a population of 20,000 people, and they have been given until Friday at noon (18:00 GMT) to evacuate the city.
Later on Wednesday, the flames were approximately 17 kilometers (11 miles) away from the city.
Hay River is under threat from another fire at this time.
When escaping the town with her family, an evacuee informed the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that her automobile began to melt as they drove over embers.
As firefighters battle more than 200 separate wildfires in the Northwest Territories of Canada on Tuesday night, the territory’s government announced a state of emergency.
At a press briefing on Wednesday, the minister of the environment for the region, Shane Thompson, stated that the flames had taken a new direction for more serious and that they now posed a “real danger” to the city of Yellowknife.
“I want to emphasize that the town is not in imminent danger at this time,” he stated. “[However], if there isn’t any rain, there’s a chance that [the fire] is going to reach the outskirts of the town by the weekend.
If you decide to remain, you will put both yourself and those around you in danger.
Despite an evacuation alert having been issued for the city over the weekend, Hay River’s Governor Kandis Jameson claimed that there were still approximately 500 individuals living in the hamlet as of Tuesday. Hay River is home to approximately 3,500 people.
The fire spread 30 kilometers in just a few hours earlier this week as a result of the strong winds, and as a result, the only two roadways leading out of the town were closed.
The route leading to the Hay River is described as “dangerous” by the mayor, and the town’s supplies of both food and gasoline are starting to run low.
In addition, both phone and internet connections have been disrupted in the outlying region.
Lisa Mundy, a local resident, related how, as she, her husband, along with the couple’s 2 kids were driving out from the city on Sunday, the bumper on her car began to melt, her glass shattered, and the interior of the vehicle began to fill with smoke.
She added that it was as if we were traveling through embers, so there was no way to see anything.
In fact, [my son, who is six years old] came up to me and said, “I would rather not die, Mommy,” and he repeated this statement a number of times.
In recent days, a number of towns in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories have been under threat from wildfires. The military of Canada continues to be coordinating airlift missions out of these communities.
This is the most extensive airlift evacuation operation that has ever taken place in the territory’s existence.
There is currently no information regarding when evacuees are going to be able to return to their homes; the majority of them have been moved south to the neighboring province of Alberta.
An order to evacuate has been issued for Fort Smith, as well as for the K’atl’odeeche Native Nation, Enterprise, Hay River, and Jean Marie River.
The town of Enterprise, which was home to 120 people before it was destroyed by a wildfire this week, has been described as “90% gone” by the community’s mayor, who spoke to the CBC on Tuesday.
As of Wednesday, there were approximately 1,100 blazes burning throughout the country in Canada, making this year’s wildfire season the worst on record for the country.
According to the opinions of several authorities, this was due to an abnormally warm and dry spring.
According to the findings of scientists, the probability of dry, hot weather that is prone to fuel wildfires is increased as a result of climate change.
