‘Just like a war zone’: Yellowknife residents describe evacuation route, community support

By Daniel Otis

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    Toronto (CTV Network) — Yellowknife lawyer and former forest firefighter Garth Wallbridge has a straightforward message for anyone who’s still in the city and doesn’t need to be.

“If you’re just a citizen and you’re hanging around Yellowknife, my request, saying it as politely as I can: it’s time to get the hell out,” Wallbridge told CTVNews.ca on Friday from a friend’s house in northwest Edmonton.

Wallbridge was at his cabin outside Yellowknife when the evacuation order was made Wednesday night for the city of 20,000 people and its surroundings. On Thursday morning, Wallbridge headed into town to pick up active files from his law office and items from home like his father’s carpenter’s hammer before beginning the long 1,400 km drive south to Edmonton to escape the raging wildfires.

“There were times when the smoke was heavy, but not enough to even necessarily cause traffic to slow down to be safe,” Wallbridge said on Friday afternoon. “There were open flames on either side of the highway at certain points.”

In the 1970s, Wallbridge spent two years fighting wildfires in Manitoba and knows firsthand how dangerous they can be. He says he’s seen posts on Facebook from a few Yellowknife residents who are convinced they can stay behind and survive past Friday’s noon deadline to evacuate.

“My wife and I would agree, if we lost both of our lovely properties up in Yellowknife, I’d still go back, I’d rebuild,” Wallbridge, who’s called the city home for more than four decades, said. “I like Yellowknife, it’s my kind of place. I’ll be back there.”

Warren McLeod spoke to CTVNews.ca from the safety of a campground outside Fort Providence, N.W.T, which is a just over 300 km drive southwest of Yellowknife. While many others head to destinations further south, McLeod plans to stay put in a camping trailer with his younger son and dog and see how things develop as fires could reach Yellowknife this weekend.

“Hopefully it’s much ado about nothing and the firefighting infrastructure work that’s being done right now, hopefully it holds up and we’ll be able to go back sooner rather than later,” McLeod told CTVNews.ca. “So being here, if that does happen, then we can get home sooner.”

With two loved ones at Yellowknife’s only hospital, McLeod has a good reason to stay nearby: his wife is a nurse with a background in emergency care while his mother is a patient expecting to be evacuated by air on Friday.

“They’re under a code green, which basically means all medical staff have to stay until patients are out,” McLeod, who grew up in Yellowknife, said. “Firefighting teams are still in Yellowknife and if something happens to one of them while they’re trying to protect the city, they are going to need medical care.”

From a free spot in the campground to deliveries of sandwiches and chilli from locals, McLeod said he’s been overwhelmed with the displays of support from communities along the evacuation route.

“No one knows when we’re going to be able to go back,” McLeod, who departed Thursday afternoon, said. “Hopefully there’s a big downpour of rain over the next week and everyone could start coming back.”

Geraldine Penney left Yellowknife Thursday morning. Travelling with her husband, adult son and a friend, she’s now staying at an Edmonton apartment of a friend of a friend – a person she’s never met before who’s offered up their place while they’re away for the next two weeks.

“We can’t keep up with people messaging us, telling us if we need anything,” Penney told CTVNews.ca on Friday, an hour after arriving in Edmonton. “It’s just phenomenal how people have stepped up to help us.”

In the communities along the way, Penney says they were met with offers of everything from food to gas to places to stay. When the evacuation order came, her family loaded up a truck with things they couldn’t replace, like three bins of family photos, as well as supplies like camping gear.

“I work for the city of Yellowknife, and I trust that when they say we should leave, I trust that we should leave,” Penney said.

Not far north of the Alberta border, they witnessed the devastating effects of wildfires firsthand in the small community of Enterprise, which was largely destroyed this month.

“It was just like a war zone,” Penney said. “That’s when it really hit home that, you know, that could actually happen to us. Now, we’re hoping and praying that it don’t.”

Born in Labrador, Penney previously lived in Iqaluit and has called Yellowknife home for 11 years.

“The past couple of years, it’s been really bad in the summer with smoke, but nothing like this,” Penney said. “You look forward to your summer and then all of a sudden you can’t go outside because you can’t breathe in all the smoke, and it’s not healthy. It’s not good for your lungs, it’s not good for your body, but it’s also not good for you mental health.”

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