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The original was posted on /r/collapse by /u/memarco2 on 2023-08-19 02:18:31+00:00.
Born and raised Yellowknifer, we managed to get out and are safe enough to post and share information on the situation back home and the NWT at large. I made a post back in July about how I realized that our community & Northern Canada as a whole was far more fragile than I thought. Unfortunately it’s all come true in less than 30 days. Faster than expected, that’s for sure.
There are 200+ fires in the NWT right now, with the largest and most dangerous ones burning for over a month. We have amazing fire crews (and global assistance) but the intensity of the fires is still too great. Small amounts of rain and low wind helped buy time but on Sunday SHTF. Unless noted, all the events described below have happened in the span of this week (Sunday the 13 up to Friday the 18).
COMMUNITY STATUS:
Strong winds pushed multiple fires across break lines and prompted full community evacuations. Note that these are considered as bigger towns in the north but will only have a single southbound road. Multiple communities connect to this road. NWT highway condition map illustrates this super well.
- Enterprise had a full evac, mayor believes 90% burned. We drove past and it’s pretty accurate.
- Fort Smith had a full evac about a week ago, with responders working tirelessly to keep the fire from affecting community structures.
- Hay River had a full evac. Their second wildfire evac of the summer…
- Behchoko is quite spread out, but has been burning for months. Also on their 2nd Full evac.
- There are other communities facing fires and evacuations, but these are the largest and most impactful ones. Lets hope it stays that way and the NWT can go back to being the obscure and forgotten territory it usually is.
YK CITY STATUS:
Yellowknife is the capital, and on Sunday the fire in Behchoko broke free and began to push towards the city. Throughout the summer there’s been misplaced confidence for a number of reasons:
- Belief the thin trees & the many lakes protected us. Drought turns these trees into essentially matchsticks which make wildfires faster and more intense. Lakes and natural firebreaks can’t compete.
- In 2014 fires came too close for comfort and revealed that Yellowknife had to improve their planning. Some assumed they had used the past years to prepare... want to guess how that went?
- General complacency. No one wanted to believe things could get bad.
For the past month the smoke in town was awful. The air quality was breaking the scale nearly daily. If people were checking fire maps, they’d see that the fires were approaching EVEN with favourable conditions (low wind, rain on occasion).
When the fire broke through (Sunday) the communication from City officials lacked any value... it actually didn't really exist. When the city declared emergency status, it was actually detrimental. They downplayed and dismissed the reality of the situation in an attempt to keep the calm. On Wednesday the fire was 25KM (15 miles) outside of city limits and they finally declared full evac. It obviously wound up causing far more chaos and panic than if they’d been clear and confident from the start.
News outlets had long asked what the plan would be, and they'd only been directed to a resource which left a lot to be desired. The general feeling was “there is a plan, but it won't need to be shared until there’s a need”… When we learned about the "real plan" it was a complete joke: The city was to move people from spots that were burning/dangerous into parts of the city that could be secured… not realizing that smoke conditions would be borderline killer, essential services could not support this, and that it would be backing 20 000+ people into a corner. Fire prevention work would be stepped up, but would it help? (Friday & the weekend will be the ultimate test of these efforts. It will be a testament to the workers, not the organizers who've called on them in while the fire actively approaches)
Following the City revealing their awful plan, a new evacuation order was released on Wednesday night. It proposed a full evac of YK using air and road. However, this new plan still fell sooo short. It was last minute & didn’t provide any information about where residents should go, just that they needed to leave. No support to help them make their trips. It also requested that the full evac be complete by Friday as the fire would likely reach the city by the weekend.
A western fire (the same one that broke the lines and Sunday and was coming to YK) had 2 prongs that stretched along either side of the only highway. There was also a fire to the North of the city, which was preventing the only other road out of town (the unfinished and unpaved road that ends after 70km/40 miles. In the middle of nowhere). Eastern fires to the city were burning too (though the geography and lack of any infrastructure meant fleeing in that direction wasn’t feasible).
The giant lake to the south of us was the only reason we didn’t have a fire on our bums. However, we couldn’t flee by water because all the communities below us that were connected by the lake were also burning and fully evacuated. Whatever small settlements/cabins/islands that would’ve been safe on the lake couldn’t support everyone that needed to flee.
Monday and Tuesday were basically normal days for YK. Without meaningful communication people tried to stay calm as best they could. But by noon on Wednesday some people were beginning to realize they may need to leave. Essentially nothing had been said by city/gov officials. By 5pm the new plan (full YK evac) was leaking. By 8pm the evacuation order for the ENTIRE city was official. (shared by Cabin Radio)
Wednesday night and Thursday morning were the worst days of the roads. (Friday seems to have been cleared up). The drive from YK to Alberta border is around 700km (450 miles) and the one gas stop along the route quickly became a problem. Even if you had a jerry can with you (which the city had run out of a week prior) the highway has only 2 lanes. When the lineup stretched too far back, it clogged the road. Even if you didn’t need gas, you were stuck. Eventually people began to pull into the oncoming traffic lane to try and bypass. The town next to the sole gas station stepped up and played a key role in getting traffic moving.
As friends and community members pass through the highway, they'd share pictures and videos. As of Thursday afternoon the highway is only able to keep open by running a system where cars are escorted through between waterbombing runs on the perimeter. The road is still moving, but the fire is increasingly making it difficult. Active and intentional backburns are being made to try to reinforce the fire line reduce the fuel available for the fire.
As of Friday, thousands have been able to get out. Many drove out (busses are not a feasible option due to low supply and difficult road conditions). Airlifts are being done by both commercial and Canadian Air Force, with flights running throughout Friday. The evacuation order issued Wednesday night is still the plan, and it still seems like the fire will make contact with the city by Friday/the weekend. With so much new information coming, single and specific articles aren't finished baking. I'd suggest using the Cabin Radio Live Updates for Friday (I'll update with Saturday's when it becomes available).
As NWT evacuees flee, Alberta towns and cities have been amazingly generous hosts. We’ve been quickly filling up many of the towns, and I can only imagine how ...
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