Around 20,000 residents of Yellowknife, the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories, have been ordered to evacuate as deadly wildfires engulf the area.
Most are fleeing by car, but those who were unable to could register for evacuation flights, according to authorities.
The area around Yellowknife is the epicenter of the province’s diamond-mining industry – in 2016, the world’s largest new diamond mine opened up 175 miles from Yellowknife.
The scenes of hurried evacuations, blinding orange blazes and plumes of noxious smoke engulfing neighborhoods have come to define the summer for many Canadians, as the country grapples with its worst wildfire season on record. So far, 13.2 million hectares (32.6m acres) of land have been destroyed and a whopping 196,000 Canadians have been forced to flee from their homes – more than the past six years combined, according to fresh data.
