Some Maritimers forced to leave Yellowknife as wildfires burn

Among those fleeing fires in the Northwest Territories are Maritimers who live up north.

“I think we were all really upset. It’s hard to know what was going through your head at any one given time. It was sort of a combination of fear and being upset, but also doing what you had to do,” said Yellowknife resident Nicola Langille.

Langille is originally from Halifax and now lives in Yellowknife.

She left Wednesday afternoon by car and is now staying in Edmonton.

“It wasn't great the day we left, and over time the smoke was rolling in and that weighed in on our level of panic a little bit,” said Langille.

Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables firefighters are on the ground up north.

Five of the firefighters were in Yukon earlier this summer when the province sent a crew to battle wildfires in July.

“Our teams are doing everything they can on the ground in conjunction with all the emergency management agencies here to keep the folks in these territories safe,” said Mike Westwick, a Northwest Territories fire information officer.

There were 237 active fires in the territory as of Friday morning, with flames about 16 kilometres away from Yellowknife.

“You had this feeling of being trapped knowing there's only one way out,” said Langille.

Langille says she is now safe, but it will be some time before she's able to return home.

“We're kind of taking it one step at a time right now. I'm trying to figure out where we go from here. I mean everyone was so focused on getting out that now everyone is texting asking where are you going to head to, which is a bigger question,” she said.