More than 260 wildfire evacuees from the Northwest Territories have arrived in Fort McMurray, and it comes as Yellowknife is set to be evacuated by Friday (Aug. 18).
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo first welcomed the evacuees Monday (Aug. 14), and it’s working with Alberta’s Provincial Emergency Coordination Centre to support people. There are temporary accommodations at Fort McMurray hotels and a temporary registration centre has been set up at the Clearwater Hotel.
The regional municipality added that while it understands people in Wood Buffalo want to help, at this time it is not accepting clothing or other items for donations for evacuees.
The United Way NWT has launched a fundraising campaign to support those impacted by the wildfires. Visit nwt.unitedway.ca/2023-emergency-response for more information.
READ MORE: Yellowknife to evacuate by Friday as wildfires burn
It comes as Yellowknife is under an evacuation order with all residents asked to be out by Friday at noon.
Municipal and Community Affairs Minister Shane Thompson said that evacuees were ordered to evacuate by plane or by road by Friday, the GNWT is working closely with the airline company for the people evacuated by air. He said the reason for the order was to allow enough time for the city to evacuate safely while roads are still safe to do so.
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo has also provided a Northwest Territories help line, at 1-800-661-0844, if any evacuees need help.
– With files from Kaicheng Xin