Yellowknife Fire Map, Update As Thousands Flee Canada Flames

Maps show the extent of the wildfires spreading across the Northwest Territories in Canada, with the capital of the province asking all its residents to evacuate.

Yellowknife, a city on the Great Slave Lake with a population of around 20,000, had already declared a state of emergency over the encroaching wildfires on Monday. It sits in one of several territories that have been subjected to large and unwieldy wildfires through the summer, which have poured smoky clouds over the U.S.

The fire, riding on the coattails of strong winds, was within 10 miles of Yellowknife's northern border by Thursday, the Associated Press reported, citing fire service sources.

Thousands of residents are said to have already fled the regional capital, and officials reportedly fear that the wildfire could turn towards the only highway leading away from the blaze.

The city of Yellowknife said in a statement on Thursday that the government of the Northwest Territories had issued a full evacuation order for Yellowknife, N'dilo, Dettah, and Ingraham Trail, directing residents there to leave by noon Friday.

"It is critical that all residents obey the Evacuation Order," city officials said. "Fire behavior is expected to increase in the next few days and there will be a dramatic increase in smoky conditions."

They added that the province's fire crews had advised that the wildfire near Awry Lake, to the north of the city and the nearest to the highway, "may reach the outskirts of the Yellowknife by this weekend."

"I want to be clear that the city is not in immediate danger and there's a safe window for residents to leave the city by road and by air," Shane Thompson, a government minister for the Territories, told a news conference, AP reported. "Without rain, it is possible it will reach the city outskirts by the weekend."

Video footage posted on social media shows the extent of the raging fire as it bears down on Yellowknife. In one clip, the edge of the wildfire can be seen almost reaching the bank of one of the many lakes that surround the city.

"Structures have definitely been engulfed," Jaclyn Whittal, a meteorologist with The Weather Network, wrote. "Awful night."

Another video shows a dark drive down a highway walled by trees with an ominous orange haze on both sides, before trees and bush alight a matter of meters away from the road. Newsweek could not immediately verify the location of the footage.

Chris Windeyer, a CBC Yukon reporter caught an aerial shot of one of the fires to the east of Yellowknife while on a flight from Toronto. "The [picture] really doesn't capture the true size of this fire," he said.

Newsweek approached the city of Yellowknife via email for comment regarding the current status of the wildfires on Friday.

Canada is already on track to have its worst season for wildfires, with over 34 million acres of forest burned, as hot and dry conditions are having devastating consequences for wildlife and pose increasing health risks for people in the path of smoke clouds.

The latest official maps as of Friday show the most intense wildfires in Canada are focused across the western provinces, including the Northwest Territories and Yukon, as well as Edmonton and British Columbia.

As of August 18, figures from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre show that there were 1,057 active fires, of which 219 were under control and 160 being held.

The blazes in Canada come amid a spate of heat wave-induced wildfires that have spread across the southwest United States, as well as Europe. Most recently, wildfires, riding on dry conditions and spread rapidly by hurricane winds, have brought death and devastation to the Hawaiian island of Maui.

Experts have said that climate change was contributing to the hot, dry conditions that made wildfires more likely.