Yellowknife mayor vows all residents will get out after orders to evacuate city
Wildfires have forced the majority of the Northwest Territories’ 45,600 residents to leave their communities, with Alberta absorbing most of the evacuees
www.theglobeandmail.com
Thousands of people from the Northwest Territories are dispersing into Western Canada by land and air as one of the country’s largest evacuation efforts empties Yellowknife and other northern communities into towns and cities hundreds of kilometres away.
Yellowknife is 1,750 kilometres north of Calgary, which on Thursday said it could accommodate 5,000 NWT residents fleeing smoke and wildfires. The first evacuation flight from Yellowknife to Calgary arrived in Alberta’s largest city Thursday afternoon, with more scheduled to land later in the day. Late Thursday, officials in Yellowknife said about 1,500 people on 10 evacuation flights departed the city. There are 22 evacuation flights scheduled for Friday, officials said.
Officials, who late Wednesday ordered Yellowknife’s 22,000 residents to leave the capital by Friday at noon, said they would charter more if necessary.
Looking at the FIRMS imagery, it looks like it was about 10 miles away at last satellite pass? This looks really bad.
The Kelowna fire looks like it really expanded last night, and satellite imagery at 8/18 0400 looks like it jumped the river. The locations of heat detection make it look like some structure fires may be underway.
NASA-FIRMS
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