Race to evacuate Canadian city as blaze nears

TORONTO, Aug 17 (BBC): One of the largest cities in Canada's far north is being evacuated amid warnings that a wildfire could reach it by the weekend. The 20,000 residents of Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, have been given until noon Friday (18:00 GMT) to leave.

As of late Wednesday, the fire was within 17km (11 miles) of the city. Another fire is threatening the community of Hay River. One evacuee told the CBC her car began melting as she and her family drove through embers while fleeing the town.

The Northwest Territories declared a state of emergency late on Tuesday as it battles more than 200 wildfires. Shane Thompson, the region's environment minister, told a press conference on Wednesday that the fires had "taken another turn for the worse" and now represented a "real threat" to Yellowknife.

"I want to stress that the city is not in immediate danger," he said.