More than 25,000 residents in three provinces have been evacuated as dozens of wildfires remained active in Canada Sunday.
Most of the evacuated residents were from Manitoba, which declared a state of emergency last week. About 17,000 people there were evacuated by Saturday along with 1,300 in Alberta. About 8,000 people in Saskatchewan had been relocated as leaders there warned the number could climb, reports AP.
The resulting smoke from the wildfire is significantly diminishing the air quality and reducing visibility in Canada and into some US states along the border.
“Air quality and visibility due to wildfire smoke can fluctuate over short distances and can vary considerably from hour to hour,” Saskatchewan’s Public Safety Agency warned Sunday. “As smoke levels increase, health risks increase.”
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said firefighters, emergency crews and aircraft from other provinces and US states, including Alaska, Oregon and Arizona, were being sent to help fight the blazes.
He said ongoing hot, dry weather is allowing some fires to grow and threaten communities, and resources to fight the fires and support the evacuees are stretched thin.
In northern Manitoba, fire knocked out power to the community of Cranberry Portage, forcing a mandatory evacuation order Saturday for about 600 residents.
The US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service deployed an air tanker to Alberta and said it would send 150 firefighters and equipment to Canada.
In some parts of the US, air quality reached “unhealthy” levels Sunday in North Dakota and small swaths of Montana, Minnesota and South Dakota, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow page.
Evacuation centers have opened across Manitoba for those fleeing the fires, one as far south as Winkler, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the US border. Winnipeg, provincial capital of Manitoba, opened up public buildings for evacuees as it deals with hotels already crammed with other fire refugees, vacationers, business people and convention-goers.
Canada’s wildfire season runs from May through September. Its worst-ever wildfire season was in 2023. It choked much of North America with dangerous smoke for months.
