In the past six years, the Northwest Territories (N.W.T.) government has issued evacuation orders as frequently as in the previous 30 years combined, according to data. The N.W.T. Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) provided information in response to a request from CBC News regarding the number of communities requiring evacuation since the 1990s. The data revealed that there were around 32 evacuation orders between 1990 and 2019, and the same number between 2020 and 2026. These evacuations were primarily due to wildfires but also included instances of floods and sporadic emergencies such as the 2019 apartment fire at the Hay River high rise.
Some evacuation orders were not limited to specific communities but also encompassed homes along highway segments. Additionally, partial evacuations were recorded, where a neighborhood had to relocate within the same town. Mike Flannigan, a wildland fire professor at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, expressed surprise at the significant increase in evacuations and questioned whether historical wildfire evacuations were adequately documented in the data.
CBC News also sought wildfire evacuation data from the federal government, but the available records begin in 1980 and lack a decade-wise breakdown. Despite this, Flannigan emphasized that the trend indicated by the N.W.T. government’s data is unmistakable. He highlighted the rise in evacuations due to various factors, primarily wildfires, attributing the surge to the escalating frequency of fires linked to climate change.
Flannigan explained that longer warm seasons have increased lightning strikes, a common cause of wildfires in the Northwest Territories. He noted a shift in fire behavior, with modern fires being more intense and harder to contain. Consequently, evacuations may be initiated earlier as a precautionary measure.
The data illustrated that several communities have faced multiple evacuations, with Hay River and Kátł’odeeche First Nation collectively needing to evacuate 12 times since 1990. The increase in evacuations has led to changes in emergency management practices, with a heightened focus on emergency measures in recent years.
Notably, the N.W.T. reported recovery costs of $363.8 million from floods and fires between 2021 and 2025. Kevin Brezinski, formerly the N.W.T. director of public safety, highlighted the escalating frequency and intensity of fires, leading to a more chaotic emergency management landscape. The article also recounts historical evacuation events and personal experiences from residents impacted by wildfires in the region.
