Canadian city ordered to evacuate due to wildfires
Smoke rises from the Crater Creek wildfire near Keremeos, British Columbia, Canada August 15.
Residents in Yellowknife, the capital city of the Northwest Territories, Canada, were ordered to evacuate on Wednesday due to wildfires.
At a news conference on Wednesday evening, the government of the Northwest Territories asked residents to leave the territory's largest community with a population of more than 20,000 by noon Friday.
"The city is not in immediate danger and there is a safe window to leave the city by road or by air," the territory government said, adding that the evacuation will be done in phases.
The city government of Yellowknife announced Wednesday on its official social media that all city facilities will be closed to the public as of 2:30 pm local time (2030 GMT) on Wednesday.
According to the evacuation order issued by the territory government, residents of N'dilo and Dettah were also directed to evacuate.
On Tuesday, the territory government declared a state of emergency in response to out-of-control wildfires. Local media reported that the wildfires were within 16 km of Yellowknife and could reach the city's outskirts by the weekend if it doesn't rain.
The Northwest Territories is experiencing the worst wildfire season on record, leading to widespread evacuations, loss of personal property and damage to critical infrastructure. According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, there were around 1,000 active forest fires in Canada as of Wednesday, more than 200 of which were in the Northwest Territories.
