(Montreal) Parks in Alberta will be closed to the public over the holiday weekend to reduce the risk of new outbreaks of fire, announced the authorities who were facing nearly 100 active fires on Friday.
More than 800,000 hectares have already burned in this province which declared a state of emergency at the beginning of the month and appealed for foreign aid. As of Friday, 94 wildfires were active, with 26 out of control.
The situation was also worsening in British Columbia where more than 22 fires were uncontrolled out of 73 recorded, with new evacuation orders triggered on Friday.
“We’re going to be dealing with the wildfire situation under extreme conditions, so we’re also asking for the public’s help,” said Christie Tucker of Alberta Wildfire, noting that nearly half of the fires are of human origin.
“As the province prepares for a hot and dry May long weekend, the current wildfire situation in Alberta remains unstable,” added Colin Blair of the EMA Emergency Management Agency. Alberta.
“Now is not the time to let our guard down this weekend,” he said during a press briefing on Friday, hammering that the “threat of fires is still just as serious”.
Temperatures will again be above seasonal norms, around 28 degrees. And this May bank holiday weekend is usually when there are the most human-caused wildfires, according to relief.
On the ground, 113 additional American firefighters are due to arrive over the next few days, adding to the more than 2,500 personnel already deployed.
More than 10,000 people from Alberta are currently being evacuated.
After more than two weeks of intense fires, warnings about poor air quality continued to concern much of the west and center of the country on Friday, but also several neighboring American states.
In recent years, Western Canada has been hit repeatedly by extreme weather events, the intensity and frequency of which are increased by global warming.