Officials are urging evacuations due to hundreds of wildfires burning in Territories Canada’s Northwest Territories. which they are describing as a “crisis situation.”
As the flames get closer to Yellowknife, the capital city of Canada’s Northwest Territories, hundreds of wildfires are blazing there. As a result, authorities have ordered people to evacuate and declared a state of emergency.

According to Shane Thompson, the minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, the declaration of a state of emergency enables the allocation of more resources to combat the more than 230 active flames scorching areas around the Northwest Territories.

We are in a crisis situation, and our administration is using every tool at its disposal to help, Thompson said in a news release.

As the fires grew closer, the mayor of Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, also declared a municipal state of emergency and issued an order for specific areas to be evacuate.

Officials from the Northwest Territories announced in a news release on Wednesday that evacuation orders had also been issue for the cities of Ndilo, Dettah, and Ingram Trail. Officials note that those who are unable to leave certain locations on foot may sign up for evacuation planes, which will start on Thursday.

The Ingraham Trail, Dettah, Kam Lake, Grace Lake, and the Engle Business District are now the areas with the highest risk, thus residents there should leave as soon as possible. Other inhabitants must leave by noon on Friday, August 18, 2023, according to the announcement from the authorities.

According to the Canadian government’s Northwest Territories Fire, a team from Alberta has been sent to the Hay River region to drop fire retardant to aid in containing the blaze.

Sprinklers and structural safety measures are in place and functioning, the agency add; other operations will start as soon as the circumstances allow.

The Government of the Northwest Territories has recently sent South Slave evacuees to a new site in St. Albert, Alberta, despite the fact that they were initially instruct to process to a receiving center in Grande Prairie.

Officials reported that a total of 236 fires were still actively burning throughout the Northwest Territories as of Wednesday night.