Pressure is mounting for the people of Canada’s Northwest Territories. On Tuesday, the federal government declared a state of emergency as wildfires spiraled out of control and threatened the region’s capital, Yellowknife.

“This allows the government to access and deploy the resources needed to manage this unprecedented wildfire season and protect the health and safety of the people of the Northwest Territories,” the territorial government said in a press release.

Federal aid and army deployment

The Canadian government has authorized the payment of extraordinary federal aid to help fight the fires. It has also deployed the armed forces to assist in the control operations. The city of Yellowknife had already declared a state of emergency on Monday evening to prepare for possible dangers from the fires.

Aerial evacuations are being carried out in remote communities in northern Canada as wildfires are “destroying” entire streets, according to witnesses. “Heartbroken thinking of the people of the Northwest Territories who are grappling with devastating wildfires,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on the X network (ex-Twitter) on Tuesday morning.

fire recording

So far, 265 fires have been recorded in the Northwest Territories. According to the authorities, around 15% of the residents are currently evacuated, i.e. more than 6,000 people. Almost 168,000 people have had to be evacuated in Canada since the fire season began. A record compared to other years.

Further west, the province of British Columbia has also been severely affected by the fires. In one of his towns, Lytton, the temperature rose to 41.4C on Monday. Because of its geographic location, Canada is warming faster than the rest of the planet. This special situation has led to extreme weather events in recent years, the intensity and frequency of which have increased due to climate change.

With agencies