More than 230 active wildfires are burning in Canada's Northwest Territories, including one outside the capital of Yellowknife, forcing 20,000 residents to flee.
Airtankers flew missions throughout Wednesday night to combat the blaze, according to the government's department of environment and climate change. Firefighting crews have been doing their best to put out hot spots, while others tried to protect cabins and other structures around Highway 3, the main road west out of Yellowknife. In the city itself, officials are taking protective measures including turning on sprinklers and creating fuel breaks.
Images of the blaze are heartbreaking. Photos and videos appearing across social media platforms show bumper-to-bumper traffic as residents try to flee the area. Others show vehicles traveling along the highway engulfed in smoke, with smoldering trees lining the roads as they drive toward safety.A screenshot of the fires from Instagram user Kimberly Benito shows evacuees traveling by car through highways engulfed in smoke.story Wednesday.
The evacuation order says those who cannot leave by car can register for evacuation flights, as well as those who are immunocompromised or have high-risk health conditions. Those flights will start taking off at 1 p.m. today, the order reads, and passengers can only take one carry-on item.Officials are discouraging evacuation attempts by boat to nearby islands, saying the air quality will decline as the fires grow closer.
"We find ourselves in a crisis situation and our government is using every tool available to assist," Thompson said in a press release Tuesday.Dustin Jones is a reporter for NPR's digital news desk. He mainly covers breaking news, but enjoys working on long-form narrative pieces.Keep up with all the latest news, arts and culture, and TV highlights from KPBS.
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