Half of the population of the Northwest Territories has been displaced by wildfires, according to Canada’s Defence Minister. Bill Blair says 40 per cent of the population of the territory lives in the Capital of Yellowknife, which is under an evacuation order.

The Canadian Armed Forces’ first evacuation flight from Yellowknife took 79 long term care residents to Edmonton yesterday (Thurs) and today, hospital patients will be flown to Vancouver. He explains that people their aircraft are able to support people who are non-ambulatory, on a stretcher or in a wheelchair, and they have medical personnel who can provide assistance to those who may need it.

During the update from federal Ministers today (Fri), the Defence Minister was asked why patients in hospital during the Fort McMurray fire in 2016 seemed to be evacuated earlier than what is happening in Yellowknife. He explained that the road is still open in Yellowknife and the fire in Fort McMurray was encroaching much quicker. Blair says, “I think officials quite appropriately have been working very carefully to ensure there was a methodically staged and appropriately timed evacuation of people from the community.”

Emergency Preparedness Minister, Harjit Sajjan, says it has been an incredibly challenging week for many Canadians with wildfires in several areas. He notes how quickly things can change with a fast-moving wildfire in British Columbia’s Okanagan region near Kelowna. An estimated 15,000 people are under evacuation orders across British Columbia and another 23,500 are on alert. The province has declared a state of emergency. Premier David Eby announced the declaration at a news conference on Friday after 24 hours of fast-spreading wildfires trigger thousands of additional evacuation orders and alerts across the province.