In view of the numerous forest fires in the Canadian province of Alberta, a state of emergency has been declared. The announcement was made by the provincial prime minister, Danielle Smith, on Twitter at night (local time). All resources must be used to fight the “unprecedented crisis”. According to authorities, nearly 25,000 people had to leave their homes. 109 fires are active and spreading rapidly because of the heat and drought – 33 of them are out of control. Almost 122,000 hectares of land were burned.
Christie Tucker of the Alberta Fire Protection Agency said, according to broadcaster CBC, that an average of 800 hectares would have burned at this time of year. Strong winds and high temperatures are also expected. Temperatures have been 10 to 15 degrees above normal for some time. This means that the vegetation is very dry and highly flammable.
Some of the fires are just twelve hectares, others spread over thousands of hectares. High temperatures, wind and drought favored the spread of fires.