At least two dozen more charter flights will be available on Friday for residents to evacuate from the 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 estimated.
Weather conditions impacted the ability to provide more chartered flights Thursday, Young said.
The number of evacuees that have left by land was not clear, with the number of registered arrivals at evacuation centres due to be made available Friday.
Fuel tanker trucks and tow trucks were deployed on standby along the main highway leaving Yellowknife in case travellers needed assistance.
During the briefing and in an earlier interview with Global News, Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty urged residents to evacuate “as soon as you can,” pointing not just to the nearby flames but also the accompanying smoke that was swallowing the city.
Mike Westwick, a wildfire information officer with the territory’s Department of Environment and Climate Change, said forecasted winds over the next two days are set to push the fires “in directions we don’t want” — namely, toward the threatened communities.
“We’re headed into a critical couple of days,” he said.
Government responses
Evacuation centres in Alberta filled up quickly by Thursday evening. The City of Leduc announced its registration centre was at capacity and would be sending arrivals to nearby Edmonton, which will open its reception centre at noon Friday.
Calgary’s airport was ready to welcome 5,000 evacuees, Mayor Jyoti Gondek said in a statement.
Ian Legaree of the N.W.T. emergency management department said the territory was looking to Manitoba to welcome additional evacuees once Albertan centres reached capacity. He said other provinces had “limitations.”
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said on social media that he told N.W.T. Premier Caroline Cochrane on Thursday his province could provide temporary accommodation to evacuees if necessary.
The B.C. government said it would support “as needed” but advised evacuees to go to Alberta first. Wildfires were forcing residents of several B.C. communities to evacuate on Thursday as well.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convened an urgent meeting with ministers and other senior officials on Thursday.
Trudeau, who is currently vacationing in B.C., updated his itinerary to include an urgent meeting of the incident response group, a cabinet committee that typically consists of senior ministers and top officials.
Following the meeting, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said Trudeau and his ministers were briefed on the latest developments including the evacuation order issued for Yellowknife on Wednesday.
The ministers also discussed safety issues related to public infrastructure and actions needed to mitigate the impacts of the wildfires. Trudeau asked ministers to work with telecommunication partners as well to ensure essential services remained available for those impacted.
The group also stressed there would be “no tolerance for opportunistic price escalation, including airfare and essential goods for those impacted by the wildfires.”
Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan, Defence Minister Bill Blair, Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez and other federal ministers were set to provide further information on the government’s response Friday at 10 a.m. MT.
The N.W.T. health authority said surgeries will be cut and some services at Yellowknife’s Stanton Territorial Hospital, including long-term care, closed by Friday.
Intensive care patients were being moved to Alberta, while most long-term care patients have been transferred to institutions south of the Northwest Territories, including British Columbia. Vancouver International Airport received some hospital patients Thursday evening.
The health authority said the emergency department at the hospital is still open.
Late Thursday, Premier Cochrane told Global News the evacuation effort is “slow and steady.”
“I’m pleased that, so far, people have remained calm on the roads out,” she said. “We had lineups of the people that need flights, but we’re trying to organize it so we can stay open. As long as we can fly, we’ll keep people going.
“We’re all in this together, but individually we choose how to react,” she also wrote in an online post. “We’re all tired of the word unprecedented, yet there is no other way to describe this situation in the Northwest Territories. The country is watching, and our neighbours are keeping us in their thoughts and prayers.”
Westwick said convoys were being organized by emergency workers amid fears that strong winds could push flames toward Highway 3, the main highway being used by evacuees to leave the area.
Long lineups were being reported at the main gas station on the highway south of Yellowknife.
“This is phenomenal — the amount of traffic,” said Linda Croft, general manager of the Big River Service Station in Fort Providence. “It’s lined up way around the corner. You can’t see the end of it.”
Most evacuees leaving by plane were expected to arrive in Calgary.
For those taking commercial flights out of Yellowknife, WestJet announced it was adjusting prices and increasing capacity to address the need.
The airline said it has added an extra recovery flight scheduled for Thursday, and also added larger aircraft to operate previously scheduled flights going from Yellowknife to Calgary.
WestJet also said it raised its limits on pets in cabins so that more guests can bring pets onboard.
Reception centres for evacuees have been set up in a number of communities in Alberta — Fox Creek, Valleyview, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, St. Albert, Leduc, Red Deer — with some already reaching their capacity.
On Thursday afternoon, the City of Edmonton announced it was also opening a reception centre for evacuees after receiving a request for assistance from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency to support the Yellowknife evacuation effort.
“This summer has been incredibly difficult with wildfire activity across the world. Edmonton is proud to once again welcome and provide care for wildfire evacuees, this time from Yellowknife,” city manager Andre Corbould said in a statement.
“Though a difficult situation brings you to our city, know you are safe here and have our support.”
— With files from Global News’ Mercedes Stephenson, Sean Previl and The Canadian Press