YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories – This northern city of 20,000 on Great Slave Lake has been evacuated as giant wildfires closed in and threatened to block the only highway out. The fires were among 1,000 across Canada that have sent smoke south into Minnesota and other U.S. border states for weeks. No let-up is in sight until perhaps mid-October. Evacuations included fleets of military and civilian flights 600 miles to Edmonton in Alberta, the nearest major city.
Yellowknife. 250 miles from Arctic Circle.
Hot spots. Satellite image of western Canada fires in forests, grass lands and croplands. Not shown are hundreds of lesser fires obscured by cloud cover. Image: Natural Resources Canada