Northwest Territories Financial News

The City of Yellowknife declared a state of local emergency due to surrounding wildfires on Monday night.

Northwest Territories have been out of their homes for a few weeks now and some people appear to be getting fed up and are planning to break the evacuation order.The Northwest Territories RCMP said it’s received information about a group of people who may be planning an unsupported return to Yellowknife.Mounties said the group of people are planning to re-enter in the territory in as many as 50 vehicles from Alberta and that “they will not stop for the checkpoints.”“The information we’ve received to date is that it’s in the planning phase as opposed to a bunch of vehicles on the road,” Cpl. Matt Halstead, a media relations officer with the Northwest Territories RCMP, told Global News on Wednesday.“We wanted to basically get out in front of it and try and discourage that type of activity.”The RCMP and territorial officials said they strongly discourage any resident from returning as the evacuation orders and territory-wide state of emergency remain in effect.It is not safe to return and police said those not approved for re-entry will be turned away.Halstead explained the roads, even the main highway, in the north are not like a typical Alberta freeway with several lanes and a wide shoulder.“We have a very narrow roadway that we rely on for support for our firefighting activities right now.

All standard homeowner and tenant insurance policies cover damage caused by wildfires, and also provide coverage to help with the cost of mass evacuations, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).

Northwest Territories, where officials say the weather has helped slow the threat of an encroaching wildfire.An evacuation order issued Wednesday for Yellowknife, a city of 20,000, had a deadline of Friday noon, and RCMP were going door to door urging people to leave.Officials say more than 19,000 people complied with the evacuation, leaving in streams of vehicles south down the highway or by air on evacuation flights.They say about 2,600 people remain in the city — 1,000 of them essential workers.As of Friday night, wind continued to pose an imminent threat and the fire remained about 15 kilometres from the northwest edge of the city.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited some evacuees in Edmonton and commended all for a “thoughtful, orderly evacuation.”Many evacuees have travelled to different areas of Alberta but some were also being flown to Manitoba.Emergency teams, crews working on the fire, utilities workers and the RCMP were among those remaining in the city.“Yellowknife feels like a ghost town at the moment, that’s for sure,” said Vincent Meslage, an essential worker.Meslage and a friend spent the better part of Friday driving people to the airport to get on evacuation flights.“There were some people that were still stressed out, other people remained calm,” he said.“At the end of the day, most of the people are now gone.”Meslage said the last gas station has closed in Yellowknife. So have all the stores and restaurants.Smoke lifted briefly in Yellowknife but returned Friday evening.Mike Westwick, a wildfire information officer, said cooler temperatures and more moisture in the air aided the fight and the fire didn’t move much.Unfortunately, no rain showed up.

#Yellowknife are empty as a massive evacuation continues here. Everyone is urged to get out by noon.

Northwest Territories as wildfires threaten multiple communities, including the capital, Yellowknife.Territorial officials told reporters during a Thursday evening briefing that 22 flights will be available with more to be made available Saturday, depending on weather conditions and the availability of crews and planes.“We will be running flights 24/7 until the population that is wanting to get out on flights are able to evacuate via those flights,” said Jennifer Young, information officer for the territory’s emergency management organization.Additional flights out of the territory will be provided by the Canadian Armed Forces, who Global News confirmed Thursday was deploying four more aircraft to assist with evacuations.Earlier in the week, the Canadian Forces already started flying out evacuees on two Hercules transport aircraft.On Thursday, military sources confirmed to Global News that two more Hercules aircraft, one C-17 aircraft and one Polaris aircraft were to be involved in evacuation efforts. They will come from CFB Trenton in Ontario and are expected to arrive in Edmonton on Thursday before heading north.The arrival of further military assets on Friday was confirmed by Chief Warrant Officer Richard Francoeur during the media briefing Thursday.Efforts to evacuate Yellowknife’s 20,000 residents and two nearby First Nations are quickly approaching a deadline of noon on Friday, as a wildfire nears the city.

The approaching wildfire is forcing Yellowknife residents to evacuate their homes and seek safety elsewhere.The wildfire is burning closer and the Northwest Territories government has ordered residents to evacuate.But they have very few options to escape the city. Flights start on Thursday afternoon but are limited to those who can’t drive or have health issues, according to the evacuation order.There is only one road out of Yellowknife that leads away from the encroaching fire.

Debilitating smoke has been hanging over the heads of many in Yellowknife for days and a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern city is growing steadily.

Everyone in the city of Yellowknife was ordered to start evacuating on Wednesday due to nearby wildfires.