Yellowknife: 19,000 Evacuated -- Structures Burning in B.C.

Saturday night update: Widespread destruction in BC:

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2023/08/wildfire-devastation-in-british.html

Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023 -- British Columbia, Canada wildfires -- Tragically, the agency confirms that the spread of the fire has impacted communities in the North Shuswap. The Bush Creek wildfire jumped across Highway 1 between Chase and Sorrento. The Trans Canada Highway through the Shuswap remains closed. Read more: https://www.kamloopsbcnow.com/watercooler/news/news/Wildfire/Unparalleled_crisis_Shuswap_fires_impact_communities_Hwy_1_remains_closed/#fs_128524 

Fled wildfire by boat in BC: The Lower East Adams Lake wildfire has prompted several evacuation orders in the Shuswap Lake area east of Kamloops, B.C., in what officials say is the "most devastating" day for fires in the region's history.

The Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) and First Nations in the area issued evacuation orders Friday night for the Scotch Creek, Lee Creek, Celista, Magna Bay and Little River areas on the north shore of Shuswap Lake.

The Scotch Creek and Talana Bay bridges, parts of the main access route to Highway 1, were closed, and Scotch Creek residents were told to evacuate by boat Friday night.

Those orders expanded Saturday morning to further parts of Magna Bay, while the alert in the Celista area expanded to the Scotch-Lambertson forest service road area.

On the south bank of Shuswap Lake, the fire forced 135 properties to evacuate in Turtle Valley while residents of Chase and Sorrento were placed on evacuation alert by the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/shuswap-wildfire-evacuations-august-19-1.6941630?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar

Yellowknife Evacuation Routes

The town of Enterprise, NWT, Canada, was 90 percent destroyed by a wildfire. Photo Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. Photo courtesy Paul Flamand. Flamand, a father-of-three from Enterprise fled north to the community of Wrigley. Flamand runs a plumbing business in the community of 100 people where nearly every building was consumed by flames earlier this week. “I lost my house, a couple of shops. Everything I’ve worked for and worked on, all my projects, Global News reports.

Yellowknife Under Evacuation

By Cabin Radio

Live coverage https://cabinradio.ca/142575/news/yellowknife/live-thousands-leave-yellowknife-as-wildfire-approaches/

Evacuation Routes by Air and Land (see list below)

 https://www.gov.nt.ca/en/transportation-and-evacuating-safely

Update: Thursday 5 pm local time, August 17, 2023

A wildfire threatening Kakisa has triggered an evacuation order, plunging the NWT further into a fire-driven crisis of extraordinary scale.

As Yellowknife’s 20,000 people evacuated over a separate fire, Kakisa’s 36 residents – far to the south but on the same highway system – were ordered to head west to Fort Simpson, away from most of the column of Yellowknifers heading south to Alberta.

Kakisa would ordinarily evacuate to Hay River, but Hay River is itself fully evacuated with an oncoming fire blocking highway access. Fort Smith, Enterprise and the Kátł’odeeche First Nation are also under evacuation orders.

YELLOWKNIFE, NWT, Canada -- The Northwest Territories’ capital is emptying out after government officials said they had until Friday to get out before wildfires could overrun the area.

While the forecast isn’t certain, the territory’s wildfire agency said that if rain does not materialize on Thursday, a wildfire 16 kilometres west of Yellowknife could reach its outskirts by the weekend – and another fire could reach homes along the Ingraham Trail, northeast of the city, by Friday.

Ingraham Trail residents, residents of Dettah to the east of Yellowknife, and people living on Yellowknife’s western edge were told to get out now – on Wednesday night if they could – in an announcement that came early on Wednesday evening.