Following the City of Yellowknife’s announcement issuing a State of Emergency for the capital, some Yellowknifers still have questions about what exactly the procedure means.
According to the City, the State of Emergency grants the Municipal Government additional powers to prevent fire growth, but does not mean the City is declaring an evacuation.
MyTrueNorthNow spoke with Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty as she addressed concerns surrounding the State of Emergency for the City as residents continue to wait for the City to execute a concrete plan.
“I know folks want really detailed information and what’s hard to do is say this is exactly what we’re gonna do because there’s so many different things that have to be taken into consideration when drafting each plan,” Alty says.
“I know folks want- ‘once the fire reaches what kilometre will we declare an evacuation’ and you can’t really say it’ll be this kilometre because it depends on the fire behaviour.”
The Mayor adds that the City will base any potential evacuation alert, notice, or order based on shifting information, and execute the appropriate action at that time.
“If the wind is blowing one kilometre an hour versus the wind blowing like Maui at 150 kilometres an hour, the distance that you would call [an evacuation] is going to be different,” she adds.
The City says they are continuing to work with NWT Fire and Yellowknife Fire to monitor and establish plans as the situation evolves.
