Wildfires in Canada's Northwest Territories forced the evacuation of the entire town of Hay River, a community of about 4,000 people on the Great Slave Lake, authorities said.
The government of the Northwest Territories ordered everyone in town, including essential workers, to go to the Hay River Merlyn Carter Airport and await further instructions.
"Anyone who remains in Hay River is doing so at their own risk," the Northwest Territories government said in an alert . "There will be no emergency services or response available."
"Extreme southwest winds have pushed the fire closer to town along the highway, forcing crews and aircraft to pull back and regroup at a safe distance," said Shane Thompson, the region's environmental minister, calling the situation "very serious".
At this point, some two-thirds of the entire population of the Northwest Territories a vast but lightly populated area has been evacuated to neighbouring provinces, sometimes 2,000km (1,200 miles) away.
Fire crews are fighting a wall of flames several kilometres long, the authorities said.
Canada is suffering through its worst forest fire season in recorded history, with much of the country hit by high temperatures and serious drought.