Canadian firefighters wage epic battle to save communities after mass evacuations
- Canada has seen a record 57,000 wildfires this year, burning more than 137,000 square kilometres of land across the country
- About 35,000 people have been ordered to evacuate wildfire zones across British Columbia and an additional 30,000 are under an evacuation alert
Firefighters battling wildfires in western Canada received help from reinforcements and milder weather on Saturday, after the nation’s worst fire season on record destroyed structures, fouled the air with thick smoke and prompted evacuation orders for tens of thousands of residents.
Flames were being held at bay 15 kilometres (9 miles) from Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, and weary firefighters had a reprieve around Kelowna in British Columbia. But the firefighters were nowhere close to declaring victory, especially with drier and windier weather forecast for the coming days.
“We’re by no means out of the woods yet,” said Mike Westwick, a wildfire information officer for Yellowknife. “We still have a serious situation. It’s not safe to return.”
Yellowknife has been a virtual ghost town since a majority of the city’s 20,000 residents started to flee following an evacuation order issued Wednesday evening, officials said. Long caravans of cars choked the main highway for days and those who couldn’t take to the road lined up for emergency flights out of the city. The last 39 hospital patients were flown out on Friday night on a Canadian Forces plane, officials said.
On Saturday, officials said the only road leading out of Yellowknife was safe, for the time being. About 2,600 people remained, including emergency teams, firefighters, utility workers and police officers, along with some residents who refused to leave.