Traffic on Yellowknife’s one highway was choked as residents drove to safety or waited in long lines for emergency flights, while fires burned within 15 kilometres of the town’s northern edge. Canada has seen over 5,700 wildfires this year, burning more than 137,000 square kilometres.
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TVTranscript
00:00 Well, the entire city of Yellowknife has been ordered to leave. That is around 22,000 people.
00:09 Many have taken to their cars to try to get out. We have seen long lines of traffic on
00:15 the main highway out of Yellowknife. Others have gotten onto commercial and military flights
00:22 that have been put on to try to get as many people out of that city in Canada's Northwest
00:29 Territories as quickly as possible. Firefighters there are warning that they face a very challenging
00:35 few days ahead as they try to prevent this fire from reaching the city. There is some
00:41 rain forecast, but it's unlikely to make much of a difference. And so firefighters are doing
00:48 what they can on the ground and they've also got water bombers in the air flying over that
00:53 area day and night to try to slow its spread. Now as authorities deal with that emergency
01:01 though, there is another one unfolding to the south in British Columbia. Several thousand
01:07 people in and around West Kelowna have been told to leave their homes. At least some buildings
01:13 have already been destroyed in that area, but officials are still trying to get an accurate
01:19 picture of exactly which areas have been affected. They are warning that this crisis that is
01:27 taking place in both of these regions is likely to escalate, that these fires are unpredictable
01:35 and they're really urging residents to follow the advice of local authorities. And they
01:42 say that they will be providing support to all of those that have been affected.
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