Canadians have crammed into a local airport and lined up along a major highway out of the Northwest Territories to escape wildfires, a day after authorities warned the blazes were moving closer to the territory’s capital and largest city, Yellowknife.

Authorities had called on Yellowknife’s nearly 20,000 residents to leave the city by Friday, and an evacuation order was also issued for surrounding communities.

Thousands flee as ‘unprecedented’ fires hit Canada’s Northwest Territories - YouTube