People in the four most threatened areas of Yellowknife were to leave as soon as possible, while others had until noon on Friday to leave, according to the Northwest Territories government.
“I want to make it clear that the city is not in immediate danger and there is safe space for residents to leave the city by road and by air,” Shane Thompson, environment minister for the Territories, said at a news conference.
The fire was burning about 10 miles (17 kilometers) from the city. “Without rain, it’s possible to reach the outskirts of the city by the weekend,” Thompson said.
If smoke limits visibility, people leaving Yellowknife by highway will be escorted through the active fire zone.
More than 200 fires have already burned a wide area of the Northwest Territories. On Wednesday there were 1,067 active fires in Canada.
Eight communities numbering nearly 6,800 people, or 15% of the area’s population, had already evacuated, Mike Westwick, regional fire information officer, said earlier Wednesday.
Many highways have been closed and the territory has seen what authorities described as the largest air evacuation operation in its history. Canadian armed forces personnel assisted firefighters and transported evacuees in a Hercules aircraft.
Canada has suffered a record number of wildfires this year. More than 21,000 square kilometers (8,108 miles) of land have burned.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
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