The streets of Yellowknife are deserted. From the east come the threatening flames of a large forest fire, to the west the only road away from danger is full of cars.
The small town in northern Canada has been gearing up for days to limit the damage from the forest fire that is raging just a few kilometers from the settlement. At the same time, most of the 20,000 inhabitants have been evacuated.
During Friday evening, Swedish time, the deadline for being able to safely leave the city passed, and in the hours leading up to the clock, activity was feverish in the city.
— We have a situation where it is important to get people out as quickly as possible, the risk is that the fires will cut off all escape routes, says Ken McMullen, president of the Canadian Fire Chiefs Association.
Rows of cars queuing out of Yellowknife.
On Thursday, ten planes with a total of 1,500 people on board left Yellowknife, on Friday the target was 22 flights out of the city.
“Okay, now we’re driving”
Many more drove out of the city, towards communities hundreds of kilometers to the west and south. But the main route out goes through areas threatened by fires and large areas along the way have been waterbombed.
— People posted messages on social media about how close the fire was and we knew the road was being closed and opened all the time, so finally we said “okay, now we’re driving,” says 65-year-old Agnes Grandejambe.
She took the car to Edmonton and drove 15 hours south with four of her children.
– Everyone’s fine. The children have been taught from an early age not to stress over something they cannot control.
Favorable winds
Remaining in Yellowknife are firefighting personnel, and not much else. A grocery store was open on Friday morning, as was a pharmacy and a bar. One resident, Kieron Testart, described the view of the deserted streets to the AP as “having a beer waiting for the world to end”.
The city’s leadership declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, but so far the winds have been favorable for the regional capital. The fire has not approached as quickly as feared, but over the weekend it could, warns the territory’s fire protection NWT Fire.
The wildfire outside the city is just one of over a thousand across Canada – more than half of which are out of control.
The fires have destroyed a record 136,000 square kilometers of forest, equivalent to the provinces of Lapland and Norrbotten combined. According to CNN, that is six times as much as the average for a normal ten-year period.