/s3/static.nrc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/topshot-canada-wildfire55575999.jpg "Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated due to wildfires in Canada")
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in western Canada as ferocious wildfires approach cities in British Columbia and the northern Northwest Territories – the latest threats in a long summer of unprecedented wildfires in the country. Canadian media reported this.
The British Columbia government declared a state of emergency Friday night as firefighters battled a large wildfire in the hills near West Kelowna, a town of 36,000 people 300 kilometers northeast of Vancouver. “The situation has deteriorated rapidly over the past 24 hours,” British Columbia Premier David Ibe said.
Thousands of West Kelowna residents evacuated as black smoke darkened the valley around Okanagan Lake and the hills around town lit up a great distance with the orange glow of burning forests. Many spent sleepless nights with acquaintances or in their cars. Thousands more have been ordered to be ready to leave.
Also look at This June photo series is about wildfires in Canada
The airspace is closed
Evacuations also began in Kelowna, a city of 150,000 people across the lake in the Okanagan region. According to the authorities, the fire, which started on Tuesday and is spreading strongly, may reach places within 24 to 48 hours. The airspace is closed to give space to seaplanes.
“We’ve gone through 100 years of fires in one night,” West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Prolund said Friday. He urged residents to follow evacuation orders.
hundreds of kilometers
Within more than 900 miles to the northeast in the Northwest Territories, about 95 percent of Yellowknife’s roughly 20,000 residents left the city because of wildfires that approached miles away. More than 15,000 people fled by car on the only highway to the south, hundreds of miles into the neighboring province of Alberta. This road is still open, despite the fires on both sides. About 3,800 people took off on evacuation flights.
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Yellowknife residents fleeing the city due to an approaching wildfire lined up Thursday to get gas at a filling station in Fort Providence in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Photo by Bill Braden/The Canadian Press via Associated Press
A massive wildfire that threatened Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, made little gains Friday, but strong winds expected on Saturday could push the flames to the city limits, authorities said. One of the evacuees told Canada’s CBC that “Yellowknife is not safe at the moment.”
A thousand active fire
Canada is experiencing the worst wildfire season in its modern history. Almost all of Canada’s thirteen provinces and territories have experienced severe wildfires since early summer; Currently there are a thousand active fires in the country. Some 140,000 square kilometers of forest are on fire, or twice the size of the Netherlands and Belgium combined. More than 180,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Yellowknife evacuees at a relief center in Edmonton on Friday. He emphasized the deployment of military resources and federal assistance with evacuations. “We will get through this incredibly difficult summer together,” he said.
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