Evacuation flights for N.W.T. wildfires to continue into weekend, military to assist
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 town of Hay River is also staring down an approaching fire.Ten planes chartered by the territory departed Thursday and evacuated roughly 1,500 residents to southern provinces, mostly Alberta, officials said Thursday evening. Over 1,000 other evacuees flew out on commercial flights, the government has
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