Convoys, airport lineups: Yellowknife residents leave city as fire creeps closer

YELLOWKNIFE -Thousands of Yellowknife residents joined road convoys and stood with packed bags in snaking lines at the airport Thursday to flee a looming wildfire approaching the capital of the Northwest Territories. The 20,000 residents of the city and two nearby First Nations have been ordered to be out by noon Friday while crews battle some of the more than 200 blazes that have forced thousands more to retreat to evacuation centres throughout Alberta as far south as Calgary. Lifelong Yellowknifer Angela Canning had to make crucial decisions with the clock ticking. “I’m really anxious and I’m scared. I’m emotional,” she said. “God, just so many emotions I don’t even know where to begin. I’m in shock.” N.W.T. officials said the evacuation has so far been safe, with the fire about…

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