The “scariest moment” of Jordan Evoy’s life was when he had to retrace to catch a military jet out during the largest-ever evacuation of the Northwest Territories due to flames blazing in Canada’s far north.
After Yellowknife, the main city in the area, declared an emergency, hundreds of people were flown to safety from isolated settlements overnight into Tuesday.
It was the second time in recent months that many people living in smaller villages had to flee their homes.
The only way out was by taking a flight on military aircraft, which were sent in with 120 soldiers to put out the fires because several highways to the south were blocked off by flames.
Evoy, a resident of Fort Smith, told AFP he had tried to drive south to Alberta province, but had to turn back and heed officials’ pleas to immediately go to the airport, warning that the “safest way out is on a plane.”
“The highway was engulfed in flames and smoked out,” the 28-year-old said, describing his panicked bolt to safety over land as “the scariest moment of my life.”
“The forest fire crossed the highway, I couldn’t see anything in front of me,” he said.
“Flames were jumping over my truck” and he said he worried its tires would melt in the heat. “The asphalt was on fire.”
All along the route there were many abandoned and charred vehicles.
“There was no cell service, so I had no way of knowing where I was,” said Evoy.
He eventually returned to Hay River and boarded a military aircraft bound for Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Around 6,000 people, or 15% of the territory’s population, were ordered to leave a number of cities and Indigenous communities, and firefighters were forced to retreat in some locations as strong winds fanned the flames.
