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Bisnis.comJAKARTA – Authorities Canada ordered to evacuate up to 20,000 residents of the Yellowknife area due to Forest fires which continues to expand towards the city.

Wildfires have swept across Canada as firefighters struggled to keep the blaze from reaching the city of Yellowknife on Thursday (8/17/2023).

Officials say the slow-moving fire is now 15 km (10 miles) northwest of the city and could reach the suburbs if there is no rain, by Saturday (8/19/ 2023).

“Very difficult days ahead with 2 days of northwest to west-northwest winds on Friday and Saturday pushing towards Yellowknife,” the fire department said.

Officials in British Columbia’s Pacific province, which has seen intense fires this year, have warned residents to prepare for extreme fire conditions.

Fire Services Superintendent Cliff Chapman said the weather event could be the toughest of the 24 to 48 hours this summer.

“We expect significant growth and we expect our resources from north to south,” he said, quoted by Reuters, on Friday (18/8/2023).

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convened a meeting of the Incident Response Group to discuss the fire, the group includes senior officials and ministers, and meets in the event of a crisis, Thursday (8/17/ 2023).

Defense Secretary Bill Blair, speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) after the meeting, said the federal government was closely monitoring evacuations and preparing to quickly transport residents if land lines were cut.

According to him, this is the worst fire season in Canada with more than 1,000 active fires across the country, including 265 regions in the northwest. Experts say climate change is exacerbating the wildfire problem.

Environment Minister Shane Thompson said an evacuation order had been issued to give people time to get out before the weather turns bad on Wednesday (16/8/2023) evening.

“The urgency is, the fire is changing drastically, the conditions are in our favor right now, but that will change on Saturday,” he said.

He said that in total, about 65 percent of the Territories’ population of 46,000 people would be evacuated. There is only one two-lane highway between Yellowknife and the province of Alberta to the south.

Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty said special crews were cutting down trees near town in an effort to stop the blaze from spreading. He also plans to use fire retardants while making sure the sprinkler system is working.

Canada’s two largest airlines have announced they are adding flights from Yellowknife. Some of the evacuees will be airlifted to Calgary, Alberta.

Calgary’s director of emergency management said he could house and feed 5,000 people in Bushell.

“We are ready to welcome them and help them for as long as they need it,” he told a press conference.

The Northwest Territories Fire Department said fires threatening Hay River, a community of about 3,000 people further south on Great Slave Lake, stopped overnight.

Territory fire information officer Mike Westwick said so far about 134,000 km2 (52,000 square miles) of land in Canada has been burned, more than six times the 10-year average. Nearly 200,000 people have been forced to flee at some point this season.

“The region has never seen anything like this before in terms of fires, it’s an unimaginable situation for many people,” he said.

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