Two more communities have been told to evacuate as wildfires near the borders of Yellowknife. Officials anticipate blazes to reach the Northwest Territories city by this weekend.
Around 1,500 people have departed on 10 planes, said Jennifer Young, NWT director of corporate affairs, during a Thursday press conference. An additional 22 planes are scheduled to leave today, carrying some 1,800 more individuals out of harm’s way.
Supplementary flights may be arranged for Saturday depending on need and weather conditions, Young added, with the goal of ultimately evacuating around 5,000 people via air.
In total, around 20,000 Yellowknife residents have been ordered to evacuate the city by noon. Residents in high-risk zones such as Ingraham Trail, Dettah, Kam Lake, Grace Lake, and Engle Business District were instructed to evacuate as soon as possible.
It’s still unclear how many people are evacuating by road.
The fires have reportedly scorched more than 21,000 square kilometers of land, with over 236 individual blazes still burning as of Thursday evening.
In response to the escalating situation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with the Incident Response Group, a high-level panel of cabinet ministers and senior officials responsible for addressing national crises.
The group was briefed on the situation in NWT and discussed public infrastructure safety, road closures, and the potential disruption of telecommunications due to the wildfires.
Trudeau has also directed his ministers to work collaboratively with telecommunication partners to “ensure that essential services remain available for Canadians impacted,” CTV News reported.
Over 5,500 wildfires have burned in Canada this year, prompting one expert to say that the “2023 fire season is and will continue to be record-breaking in a number of ways.”
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