Firefighters will monitor the sky over the next two days in hopes of receiving help from Mother Nature as wildfires along the Alberta and Northwest Territories borders continue to force evacuations.

Thousands of residents from the Northwest Territories fled from 236 wildfires raging across the northern forest. More than 20,000 square kilometers have burned, an area nearly four times the size of Prince Edward Island.

Evacuation orders have been issued for Fort Smith, Enterprise, Jean Marie River, and Hay River.

The fires have closed numerous highways, and the area has established what officials described as the largest airlift in its history, as members of the Canadian Forces assist firefighters and transport evacuees aboard Hercules aircraft.

In addition to the military deployment, the federal government stated in a release that it is providing dedicated funding for response and recovery activities for eligible First Nations, while Public Services and Procurement Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard are also providing support.

Late Tuesday, incident commander Greg Walker said the fire near Fort Smith had moved within four kilometers of the area, where 93 firefighters and six helicopters are still battling the blaze.

Walker added, "Two days ago, the fire extended a long way from west to east right towards Highway 5 and the town of Fort Smith," and he did not speculate on whether the situation would worsen in the coming days, noting it depends on the weather. "A little rain would help."

He said, "We had a few millimeters of rain on parts of the fire, and maybe not all of it, and that's enough to give us a little breather for a day or so, but nothing more than that," stressing that we would need about 20 mm of rain or something along those lines to get a break for a week to 10 days.

Walker noted that if hot and dry fire conditions return, the focus will shift to containing the spread, but rain will allow heavy equipment and crews to suppress parts of the fire closer to communities.

The fire affecting the Fort Smith area is currently one of 15 lightning-caused fires from May.

Walker continued that this fire was the farthest from Fort Smith, and resources are concentrated on those closer to the city.

Adding, "We have extinguished a number of fires that were somewhat closer to Fort Smith with resource crews, meaning firefighters and helicopters that were available at the time, and that other available resources have been loaned to help combat wildfires in other jurisdictions."

Walker said, "All fire resources are tied up in fires somewhere else in this country, so there were no additional resources to bring attention to this fire."

He added that "resource availability and weather allowed this fire to spread to areas nearby."

Some residents of Yellowknife, the capital of the territory, were asked to be prepared to leave on short notice. An evacuation alert was issued Tuesday for some areas of the city, including the Kam Lake commercial area, Grace Lake, and the Engle commercial area. A local state of emergency was declared on Monday.

The evacuation notice remains in effect for Inuvik at the far northwestern end of the Northwest Territories.