Canada’s biggest city in the Northwest Territories faces emergency as a massive wildfire steadily creeps on to it

Canada’s largest city in the Northwest Territories is facing an urgent crisis as an enormous wildfire gradually advances toward it. According to The Guardian, the substantial blaze was only 10 miles (16 kilometers) away as of Tuesday night.

In response, authorities have raised the alarm by declaring a territory-wide state of emergency and issuing an evacuation order for the outskirts of Yellowknife.

The territory’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Shane Thompson, expressed the gravity of the situation, stating, “We find ourselves in a crisis situation and our government is utilizing every available resource to provide assistance.”

Residential inhabitants have been directed to vacate a 22-mile section of Highway 3 that links Yellowknife with the rest of Canada.

NWT Fire has cautioned that the massive fire is likely to reach the highway by Thursday.

“Our primary focus is the safety of our community. There is a risk to the City of Yellowknife. Our team, in collaboration with the City of Yellowknife, is employing every effort to impede the fire’s expansion and safeguard the community,” the fire services stated, as reported by Reuters.

Yellowknife residents are advised to anticipate falling ash and visible smoke within the city as the fire, spanning 163,000 hectares (402,000 acres), continues to spread.

Given its population of 20,000 people, Yellowknife is on high alert, and authorities have cautioned that a broader evacuation order may be impending. Meanwhile, thousands of residents from five other communities in the region have already been instructed to evacuate.

Canada is currently grappling with its most intense wildfire season ever recorded, with over 1,000 active fires raging across the nation. Among these, as disclosed by The Guardian, 230 are located in the Northwest Territories.

Recently, the hamlet of Enterprise, near the Alberta border, suffered nearly complete destruction, with 90 percent of its area devastated by a fire that swept through on Sunday. The adjacent community of Hay River, according to Mayor Kandis Jameson, is rapidly running out of time to evacuate.

Due to an enduring heatwave, Western Canada experienced the breaking of 19 daily heat records on Tuesday. This heatwave is exacerbating the more than a thousand fires afflicting the country.