Thousands of people left their homes due to the fierce fire in the forests of Canada.

Vancouver: More than 20,000 people have been displaced by wildfires adjacent to the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories. At the same time, a fire is spreading rapidly in a densely populated area of ​​British Columbia, located hundreds of kilometers south of the city of Yellowknife, prompting thousands of people there to leave their homes and go to safer places. Due to the fire, many houses here got burnt. Northwest Territories officials said Friday evening that about 19,000 people had left the city of Yellowknife in less than 48 hours because of the fire, including about 15,000 in vehicles and 3,800 on emergency flights. Officials said about 2,600 people were still in the city, including 1,000 essential workers.

Territory Environment and Climate Change Minister Shane Thompson said the situation at the wildfire remained critical and that non-emergency workers who stayed there were putting themselves and others at risk. He told the employees, “Please get out of there now.” Eleven air tankers used water cannons to douse the fire and another aircraft dropped fire retardants on the flames. Fire information officer Mike Westwick said: “This is the largest water response ever put out in the area.” Westwick said the fire, which started more than a month ago by lightning, has spread to some 1,670 square kilometers and is “not going to be extinguished quickly”.

The fire has crossed three different control lines due to dry weather and dense forests, he said. In the western British Columbia city of Kelowna, hundreds of kilometers south of the city of Yellowknife, a wildfire of about 38,000 has spread rapidly and has become “out of control”, burning several homes there, officials said. The rapid spread of the fire in the area prompted British Columbia Prime Minister David Abbey to declare a state of emergency. West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund said there were no casualties as a result of the blaze, but some rescue workers were trapped while rescuing people who failed to escape. The province’s emergency management minister, Bowin Ma, said on Friday that “we are still facing huge challenges”.