NewsTracker Answers for week of Aug. 21, 2023

Q: Nearly all the 20,000 residents of Yellowknife fled the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories last week as a large wildfire burned outside the city. Where is Canada’s Northwest Territories?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Even more people have been told to flee wildfires as a state of emergency was declared last week in what Canadian province on the Pacific coast?

A. Alberta

B. British Columbia

C. Saskatchewan

D. Manitoba

B. About 35,000 people had been ordered to evacuate from wildfires in British Columbia, and another 30,000 were under an evacuation alert on Saturday. British Columbia is southwest of the Northwest Territories, while Alberta and Saskatchewan are to the south. Manitoba touches the southeast corner of the territories.

Q: Canada is experiencing its worst forest fire season ever, with more than 34.6 million acres already burned. That is roughly the size of which southern European nation that also evacuated people from wildfires last week?

A. Greece

B. Italy

C. Portugal

D. Spain

A. Greece evacuated 12 villages threatened by a wildfire near the city of Alexandroupolis. All of southern Europe has suffered deadly wildfires in recent years. Forest fires have always been an annual natural occurrence in Canada, but some worry that climate change may be making wildfires much worse.

Q: The order to evacuate Yellowknife came a week after a wildfire destroyed the town of Lahaina, Hawaii, killing more than 100 people. Lahaina is on which Hawaiian island?

A. Hawai’i

B. Kaho’olawe

C. Maui

D. O’ahu

C. Lahaina is on Maui, the second-largest and third most populous of the eight main Hawaiian islands. Hawai’i is the largest island and second most populous. O’ahu has the majority of the state’s population and is the third-largest island. Kaho’olawe is the smallest island and is unpopulated.

Q: With the evacuation of Yellowknife, more than half of the people in Northwest Territories have been displaced by wildfires. The Northwest Territories is one of three territories that account for more than third of the area of Canada. What percentage of Canadians live in those territories?

A. 33.3%

B. 13.3%

C. 3.3%

D. 0.3%

D. The Northwest, Yukon and Nunavut territories cover the Canadian mainland north of 60 degrees latitude and west of Hudson Bay. They also include the islands from James Bay to the Arctic. Much of the territories are in the Arctic. The city of Yellowknife is just 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The vast majority of Canada’s population is concentrated in provinces along the U.S. border.