The Canadian city of Yellowknife was placed under a major evacuation order Thursday as the threat of wildfires increases.
Yellowknife is the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories, and home to roughly 20,000 residents, who have until Friday to evacuate the area, according to the BBC. The evacuation order is incredibly late, as the fire was just 11 miles from the city on Wednesday.
The Daily Caller previously reported Monday that Yellowknife was at serious risk of total destruction from a series of wildfires throughout the region.
Canadian officials ordered the evacuation of the Northwest Territories’ capital of Yellowknife and several smaller communities as a massive wildfire threatened the town of Hay River overnight https://t.co/5I7mZHkMvp pic.twitter.com/wST8oe1YEf
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 17, 2023
Radar footage shared widely online showed the path of the fire heading toward the city. The towns of Hay River and Fort Smith were already under evacuation orders by Monday. (RELATED: Crazy Video Shows Extreme Impact Of Canada’s Wildfires On US)
The Canadian military has been operating airlift evacuations out of communities in the Northwest Territories’ South Slave Region over the past several days, according to the BBC. The territory government said airlift evacuations will begin for Yellowknife Thursday afternoon, the outlet reported.
One Canadian official said the fires might not reach Yellowknife until the weekend, according to a video shared by Reuters.