OTTAWA (ANTARA) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on social media that the government continues to mobilize resources in the Northwest Territories and is ready to provide support to Kelowna as new wildfires break out in western Canada Friday (8/18).
Kelowna, a British Columbia city of about 150,000 people, declared a state of emergency due to wildfires.
The city of West Kelowna, which has a population of about 36,000, also declared a local state of emergency. Authorities confirmed at a press conference on Friday that there were a number of structural defects in the city. More than 2,400 neighboring properties were under evacuation orders.
In the Northwest Territories, evacuation efforts continued Friday in Yellowknife. According to local media, 26 evacuation flights were planned to leave the city and fly to Calgary. The federal government announced it was chartering a private plane to support the military effort.
The territorial government said the fire remained uncontrolled 15 kilometers northwest of Yellowknife, adding that critical and difficult days were expected.
Trudeau called an emergency meeting on Thursday (8/17) to discuss the wildfire crisis in the Northwest Territories and extreme weather conditions across the country.
According to the Canadian Interagency Wildfire Centre, there were about 1,000 active wildfires in Canada as of Friday, including more than 380 in British Columbia and more than 230 in the Northwest Territories.
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