Canadian officials ordered the evacuation of the Northwest Territories' capital of Yellowknife and several smaller communities on Wednesday as a massive wildfire threatened the town of Hay River overnight.
Teams were working to evacuate Hay River, a community of some 3,000 on Great Slave Lake, by bus or plane Wednesday night as the fire approached.
"Hay River saw the fire south of their community increase, get closer to the city today," Fire Information Officer Mike Westwick said at a news briefing Wednesday evening. "We saw highly active fire in that area and it was moving quickly."