Canadian wildfire threatens towns, govt orders evacuations
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[August 17, 2023]
By Pat Kane and Nia Williams
YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories (Reuters) -Canadian officials ordered
the evacuation of the Northwest Territories' capital of Yellowknife and
several smaller communities on Wednesday as a massive wildfire
threatened the town of Hay River overnight.
Teams were working to evacuate Hay River, a community of some 3,000 on
Great Slave Lake, by bus or plane on Wednesday night as the fire
approached.
"Hay River saw the fire south of their community increase, get closer to
the city today," fire information officer Mike Westwick said at a news
briefing on Wednesday evening. "We saw highly active fire in that area
and it was moving quickly."
Westwick said the blaze could reach Yellowknife by this weekend barring
rain and that residents of the capital were also being asked to leave as
part of a "phased evacuation" beginning with the most threatened
communities.
So far no deaths have been reported from the Yellowknife fire but
several structures have been destroyed. Yellowknife has a population of
around 20,000 people and lies 250 miles (400 km) south of the Arctic
circle.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/17/images/ads/current/beasonag_sda_FAIR_2023.png)
Canada is enduring its worst wildfire season with more than 1,000 active
fires burning across the country, including 230 in the Northwest
Territories.
Thousands of residents of the sparsely populated territory have already
fled smaller communities and the hamlet of Enterprise near the Alberta
border was almost entirely destroyed by a blaze that swept through on
Sunday.
Northwest Territories Premier Caroline Cochrane said some Yellowknife
residents were preemptively leaving the city but urged people to remain
calm and warned that highways could close suddenly because of the fire
risk.
"I've never seen so many vehicles leaving town," Cochrane said. "There's
all kinds of rumors out there, but be ready and evacuate if necessary.
Be calm. Do not panic."
NWT Fire said the 163,000 hectare (402,781 acres) wildfire is currently
17 km from Yellowknife and would likely reach Highway 3, the only
highway connecting the city to the rest of Canada, on Thursday.
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![](../images/081723PIX/news_g17.jpg)
Smoke rises from the Crater Creek
(K52125) wildfire near Keremeos, British Columbia, Canada August 15,
2023. BC Wildfire Service/Handout via REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/02/images/ads/current/guzzardo_lda022609.png)
"There is risk to the City of Yellowknife. Our team, alongside the
City of Yellowknife, are doing everything possible to slow the
growth of this fire and protect the community," NWT Fire said.
The Northwest Territories declared a state of emergency late Tuesday
and the Canadian military has been mobilized to help tackle the
blazes and airlift some residents to safety.
Cochrane spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the
wildfire situation on Wednesday afternoon. Trudeau reaffirmed the
federal government's ongoing commitment to help the territory,
according to a readout of their conversation.
Western Canada is enduring a heat wave that saw 19 daily heat
records broken on Tuesday and is fuelling hundreds of out-of-control
wildfires.
In the Pacific province of British Columbia around 80 people were
forced to shelter in place in a mountain guesthouse after their only
way out was cut off by a rapidly expanding blaze.
The stranded people, including lodge guests and campers from nearby
campgrounds, sheltered overnight at the Cathedral Lakes Lodge near
Keremeos in the south of the province before being brought down the
mountain in vehicles on Wednesday afternoon.
Blazes have engulfed parts of nearly all 13 Canadian provinces and
territories this year, forcing home evacuations, disrupting oil and
gas production and drawing in federal as well as international
firefighting resources.
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(Reporting by Pat Kane and Nia Williams; Additional reporting by
Ismail Shakil and David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Dan Whitcomb in Los
Angeles; Editing by Diane Craft and Stephen Coates)
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