Labrador woman recounts fleeing Yellowknife as wildfires threaten city

A Labrador woman fleeing Yellowknife with her family says the forest firesthreatening the city are unlike anything she's ever seen.

Yellowknife residentsare leaving their homes behind, racing fromdangerous wildfires that are expected to reach the outskirts of the city over the weekend. Local authorities have ordered people to leave by noon local time on Friday.

Iona Strachan, originally from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, left the city with her daughters, pets and friend before the evacuation order was implemented. The family ison the road in northern Alberta, hoping to reach either Calgary or Edmonton.

"When [my friend] Marie and I started chatting about possibly leaving, regardless of whether there was an evacuation order ornot, the smoke rolled in really heavy that day. And it created a really eerie, orange looking sky. And the visibility was really, really poor," Strachan told CBCNewsfrom the road Thursday.

"At that point it was within 30 kilometres outside of the city. And then the next day, it had moved. I remember being quite shocked at how fast it was moving."

Strachansaid her family is nervous but holding up as they leave their home. They were hopingto go back to Labrador to be with family, she said, but demand is high and flights are too expensive. Strachan said she's experienced forest fires in Labrador and Yellowknife before but this situationis unlike anything she's ever seen.

"The fires were never as close to Yellowknife as it was this time," she said. "I have never experienced anything like it, and I hope I don't again."

Efforts to evacuate thousands of people have been complicated. Canada's major airlines are being accused of not doing enoughto help people change flights or flee the region, and Yellowknife has only one highway intothe community.

Territorial officials have also asked people to watch their speed when leaving Yellowknife to avoid collisions with wildlife.

Ahead of their next stop in Alberta, Strachan hopes everyone willmake it out safely.

"We really thought it would be a week at most, and more like a vacation then an evacuation. But nowhere we are," she said.

"All I hope for is safe passage for everybody else."

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