Wildfire forces Canada's NWT residents to flee

Yellowknife, Aug. 19: Residents in the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories rushed to beat a noon Friday deadline to evacuate their homes as one of hundreds of wildfires raging in the territories moved closer to the city of 20,000.

Thousands have fled, driving hundreds of kilometres to safety or waiting in long lines for emergency flights, as the worst fire season on record in Canada showed no signs of easing.

The fire was within 16 kilometres of Yellowknife's northern edge Thursday, and officials worried that strong northern winds could push the flames toward the only highway leading away from the fire, which was choked with long caravans of cars.

Still, there remained plenty of time to leave by road or air, Shane Thompson, a government minister for the Territories, told a news conference. He said that without rain the fire might reach the city's outskirts by the weekend.

"We're all tired of the word unprecedented, yet there is no other way to describe this situation in the Northwest Territories," Premier Caroline Cochrane posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year — contributing to choking smoke in parts of the U.S. — with more than 5,700 fires burning more than 137,000 square kilometres from one end of Canada to the other, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

As of Thursday evening, more than 1,000 wildfires were burning across the country, over half of them out of control. Hundreds of kilometres to the south of Yellowknife, hundreds of properties were ordered to evacuate because of the threat from a wildfire near West Kelowna, British Columbia. (AP)