(Al Jazeera Media Network) Canadians have crammed into a local airport and lined up along a major highway out of the Northwest Territories to escape wildfires, a day after authorities warned the blazes were moving closer to the territory’s capital and largest city, Yellowknife.
The Canadian government said Prime Justin Trudeau Minister will convene an emergency committee, known as the Incident Response Group, on Thursday to discuss the wildfires – the latest in a series of blazes to hit the country this year.
Authorities had called on Yellowknife’s nearly 20,000 residents to leave the city by Friday, and an evacuation order was issued for surrounding communities.
Canada is going through its worst wildfire season on record with more than 1,000 active fires across the country, including more than 200 in the Northwest Territories.
