YELLOWKNIFE (Reuters) – In Canada, authorities have ordered the evacuation of the Northwest Territories capital, Yellowknife, and several communities due to widespread wildfires.
Flames could reach the town of 20,000 on Great Slave Lake by the weekend, fire department spokesman Mike Westwick warned Wednesday evening (local time). Residents are asked to evacuate in stages depending on the risk.
Northwest Territories Premier Caroline Cochrane called on Yellowknife residents to remain calm and warned that highways could be suddenly closed due to the risk of fire. “There are all kinds of rumors going around, but be prepared and get out of town if necessary. Stay calm. Don’t panic.” According to the fire department, the 163,000 hectare fires are located 17 kilometers from Yellowknife. Experts believe the flames will reach Highway 3, the only road link to the rest of Canada, on Thursday.
The evacuation of Hay River on the opposite side of the lake is already underway. The 3,000 inhabitants were evacuated from the danger zone by bus or plane. The largest forest fires on record are raging across Canada. The Government of the Northwest Territories declared a state of emergency on Tuesday. This will mobilize the military to help fight the fires and transport residents to safety.
More than a thousand individual fires are currently active across the country, including 230 in the Northwest Territories. Thousands of residents of the sparsely populated region have already fled the small communities. For example, the village of Enterprise near the Alberta border was almost completely destroyed this week.
(Reporting by Pat Kane and Nia Williams, writing by Hans Busemann, editing by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt. newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for business and markets)
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