Wildfire threat to Yellowknife deemed serious as parts of city on evacuation alert
CBC
The wildfire threat to Yellowknife has become serious, the N.W.T.'s minister of municipal and community affairs, Shane Thompson, told a news conference Tuesday evening.
The news briefing came on the heels of Yellowknife declaring an evacuation alert for parts of the city's west end and Thompson declaring a territorial state of emergency due to wildfires and evacuations in many parts of the territory.
The emergency declaration will allow the territory to "acquire and deploy the necessary resources to support the management of this unprecedented wildfire season, and protect the health and safety of Northwest Territories residents," according to a news release on Tuesday afternoon.
"We find ourselves in a crisis situation and our government is using every tool available to assist," Thompson said in a statement.
The declaration comes a day after Thompson said there was no need to declare a territorial state of emergency, because the government had the resources it needed to handle things and an emergency declaration would simply "cause more stress."
Up until noon Tuesday, Thompson said the government had the resources to fight the fire. He wouldn't specify what changed after that point in time. He said smoke is making it hard for aircraft to see what they're fighting.
Mike Westwick, a fire information officer for the N.W.T. government, said it's been difficult to fly aircraft due to smoke from the fire between Yellowknife and Behchokǫ̀.
"We are out there every single day fighting the progress of this fire," Westwick said.
The N.W.T. is currently dealing with hundreds of active fires across the territory. Five communities were under evacuation orders as of Tuesday evening, and other areas were under evacuation alerts.
Some communities have been ravaged by fire, telecommunications services are down in some areas, and the capital city was put under a local state of emergency on Monday as a large wildfire moved closer.
Thompson said the territory could be dealing with wildfires for weeks yet, possibly into September.
An evacuation alert was issued Tuesday evening for the Kam Lake business district, Grace Lake and the Engle industrial area in Yellowknife. Rebecca Alty, the city's mayor, made the announcement during an interview with Meghan Roberts, host of CBC's Northbeat.
Alty said the evacuation alert is precautionary and that residents in those areas should be prepared to leave on short notice. During Tuesday's news conference, she said if the alert is upgraded to an evacuation order, Yellowknife's multiplex and the adjacent field house will open for those needing a place to stay.
The multiplex, she said, is a non-flammable building that has little vegetation around it, and would be protected by sprinklers.
Moving to Canada from Singapore meant losing close social connections for Iris Akbar, but Akbar says the gift was in finding an affirming space with friends that became like family.
Women and children staying at Regina Transition House now have access to Santa’s workshop — a safe space where mothers can choose Christmas gifts for their children.
A man from Powell River, B.C., is thankful to be alive after a stranger helped him while he was choking at a restaurant during a visit to Whistler.
When it comes to Hamilton readers' favourite library books of 2025, romance and mysteries are in close competition.
From the Detroit Lions losing to Apple iPhones that spontaneously update, Windsorites had things that bugged them this year.
Calgary emergency rooms are “in a state of critical overcapacity” ahead of the anticipated peak of flu season — and to cope with the surge and wait-room crowding, officials are urging doctors to speed up their decisions on whether to admit patients, according to a memo obtained by CBC News.
Northern Ontario's highway system needs improvements in order to make travel safer, a highway safety advocate said.
Hundreds of thousands of used tires are piling up across Ontario as some companies responsible for tire recycling have stopped processing tires amid reduced provincial recycling regulations for tire producers, industry experts say.
People in Guelph facing homelessness will soon have a new place to go during the day.
Islanders are reminded to plan their rides ahead of holiday festivities if they plan on drinking alcohol or using cannabis.
Even before Gwen Healey Akearok began her new role as Nunavut’s Minister of Family Services, she was tuning into the Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) hearings on the state of the Family Services department.
The racial reckoning of the COVID era saw Canada grapple with its checkered past — a process that led to statues of some foundational figures being removed, in some instances by force.
Holiday traditions are front and centre for many people at this time of year. But one Uxbridge family's Christmas tradition goes above and beyond the standard Christmas carols or holiday party.