FIRE RAVAGES CANADA’S NWT, FORCING TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TO FLEE

Fr 18 August 2023:

In the center of Canada’s Northwest Territories, a city beats with the urgency of its inhabitants fleeing the destructive fangs of fire as they race against an relentless clock.

Yellowknife, the capital, is bracing itself against an oncoming wildfire, one of hundreds that have erupted in this vast northern area.

With a noon Friday deadline looming, the city’s 20,000 residents are desperate dash to flee the inferno’s impending embrace.

Authorities had called on Yellowknife’s nearly 20,000 residents to leave the city by Friday, and an evacuation order was also issued for surrounding communities.

The Canadian government said Prime Justin Trudeau Minister will convene an emergency committee, known as the Incident Response Group, on Thursday to discuss the wildfires – the latest in a series of widespread blazes to hit the country so far this year.

The heart-wrenching exodus began on Thursday, a caravan of thousands taking to the roads that stretch for endless miles, the horizon a distant sanctuary.

“Ten planes soared from Yellowknife’s grasp on Thursday, carrying with them 1,500 souls,” revealed Jennifer Young, the mistress of corporate affairs for the Northwest Territories’ Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

And, with hope kindling in the hearts of the afflicted, she shared that a fleet of 22 flights was set to take flight on the morrow, laden with an additional 1,800 people yearning for sanctuary.

The airport had warned residents on Wednesday to arrive at least two hours ahead of their flights because of “increased passenger traffic”.

Canada is going through its worst wildfire season on record with more than 1,000 active fires burning across the country, including more than 200 in the Northwest Territories alone.

Shane Thompson, a government minister for the Northwest Territories, said on Wednesday that without rain, the fires could reach Yellowknife in days.

“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,” he said.

The territorial fire service said in a statement on Facebook on Thursday that the Northwest Territories faced “very tough days ahead” as winds expected on Friday and Saturday “would push the fire towards Yellowknife”.

The city, which is home to about half of the population of the Northwest Territories, sits about 1,400km (870 miles) north of Edmonton, Alberta.

Dry conditions and high temperatures have made wildfires more frequent across the world.

More than 100 people were killed in blazes that began last week on the Hawaii island of Maui, and the Spanish island of Tenerife also has been battling what officials describe as “out of control” wildfires.

According to scientists, climate change has made wildfires more common and tougher to manage in recent years.

While most of Canada’s wildfires have burned in sparsely populated, remote areas, smoke from the blazes has harmed air quality in huge swaths of the country as well as northern areas of the United States.

According to experts, fires are often ignited by either human activity or natural sources such as lightning and volcanoes.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent