Fires in western Canada spread – 29,000 people evacuated

In the meantime, more than 375,000 hectares of land had burned down in the province of Alberta, and more than 29,000 people had had to leave their homes, the authorities said on Sunday afternoon (local time). 31 of the 108 active forest fires are out of control. The province of Alberta declared a state of emergency on Saturday evening due to the extent of the fire.

This will allow federal funds to be released to fight the blazes. The area burnt so far is almost the size of Burgenland.

The recent rains have helped with the firefighting, said Christie Tucker, chief of the Alberta Wildfire Fire Protection Agency. “It gave the firefighters the opportunity to work on some of the fires that they couldn’t get to because of the extreme nature of the fires.” Cooler temperatures and higher humidity are also expected in the next few days. She also asked for help from the neighboring US state of Montana.

The extent of the damage cannot yet be estimated, the authorities said. Colin Blair, director of the Alberta Civil Protection Agency, said the priority is protecting lives and dealing with emergencies, according to broadcaster CBC.

According to the authorities, there have been more than 360 fires since January. This is an exceptionally high number given that May has only just begun. In 2016, Alberta had already experienced huge fires that destroyed more than 2,400 buildings.

In view of climate change, experts warn that the frequency and intensity of forest fires will increase. In the prairie provinces in the west of the country, the average temperature has risen by 1.9 degrees Celsius since the mid-20th century, according to the Agency for Environment and Climate Change Canada.