Where is Yellowknife located? Distance from Toronto explored amid evacuation from wildfires

On Tuesday, August 15, the Canadian government ordered the residents of the city of Yellowknife to evacuate as a wildfire was approaching. In fact, they have been given until noon (local time) on Friday to leave their houses. The city has a population of over 20,000 who were warned by water bombers and air tankers which flew all across the city from Tuesday night until Thursday morning, informing people about the advancing wildfire.

Since then, long lines of traffic have jammed the only road out of Yellowknife, making the evacuation process harder than previously imagined. However, Mayor Rebecca Alty told the press on Thursday that those who fail to evacuate by road, are immunocompromised, or have high health risks can also choose to board evacuation flights.

However, she warned the Yellowknife natives to carry sufficient water and food with them to the city’s airport as there can be delays and long queues to get on a flight, primarily moving them to the closest metro city, Toronto.

The city is the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories and lies 400 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle and over 4000 kilometers away from Toronto.

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Yellowknife lies on the north shore of Great Slave Lake

Yellowknife is not only the capital but the largest city in Canada’s Northwest Territories. It lies on the northern shore of the Great Slave Lake, about 400 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle, and is famous for the Northern Lights during the fall and the winter. The city also lies on the west of Yellowknife Bay near the mouth of the Yellowknife River.

Yellowknife (YZF in short) is divided into six constituencies, namely Frame Lake, Great Slave, Kam Lake, Range Lake, YZF Center, YZF North, and YZF South. It was established in 1934 but became a capital city in 1970. The city is nearly 4,000 kilometers northwest of Toronto and takes around eight hours to travel by flight, including a layover time of 1 hour and 51 minutes.

The city is famous for its diamond mines. In fact, in 2016, the world’s largest new diamond mine Gahcho Kueopene was established only 175 miles northeast of the city.

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Yellowknife evacuation in the wake of advancing wildfire

The wildfire which is approaching Yellowknife is called the Southern Fort Smith Region wildfire and according to The Guardian was only 16 kilometers away from the city as of Thursday. It was measured to be at least 163,000 hectares wide.

Apart from the capital city of the Northwestern Territories, the inferno has also prompted evacuation from other nearby areas such as Dene First Nation communities called N’dilo and Dettah, Behchoko, and Ingraham Trail.

Currently, Canada is facing its worst season of wildfire, with over 1000 active fires blazing across the nation, including 236 alone in the Northwestern Territories. In fact, Fire Information Officer Mike Westwick told The Guardian on Wednesday:

“The reality is we’ve been fighting this fire for over a month. This fire has burned deep, this fire has burned hot, and it has found ways through multiple different sets of established [control] lines.”

As thick smoke began blanketing the city on Thursday, residents were seen evacuating via road towards the next town Fort Province, on their way to Toronto. So far, over two million hectares of Northwestern Territories have been destroyed and a majority of its population has been ordered to evacuate.

In fact, on the side of the Great Slave Lake, the village of Hay River was 90 percent devastated by the flames, by last Sunday, as reported by The Guardian.

Moreover, Shane Thompson, the Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs of the city told the news outlet on Thursday that the residents will have to drive for 15 hours south of the city to Leduc and Alberta to find shelters, as others in between are already full capacity.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is due to hold a meeting on Friday with the Incident Response Group, a group comprising of ministers, senior government officials, and emergency personnel to discuss the plan of action in the moment of the national crisis.