(CNN) More than 13,000 people living in Canada’s Alberta province have been evacuated as wildfires rage in the region, which is experiencing unusually hot weather and strong winds, emergency officials said.
At least 78 wildfires are burning across the western province, 19 of which are spiraling out of control, Stephen Lacroix, director of the region’s emergency management agency, told reporters during a news conference on Friday.
“This is a stark reminder of how unpredictable and powerful wildfire can be,” said Lacroix.
Some residents of the Fox Lake community, where the fires are severe, had to be evacuated by helicopter, according to Alberta Wildfire Information Unit director Christie Tucker. On Friday morning, dozens of firefighters in Fox Lake were battling the blazes that burned nearly 11,000 acres, officials said.
According to Tucker, firefighters, helicopters and air tankers fought a runaway fire in the Drayton Valley that burned over 3,700 acres.
Authorities in the Yellowhead County community and the city of Edson have also ordered an immediate evacuation due to wildfires in Alberta, Edson officials tweeted. The city of Edson has a population of just under 9,000, according to the municipality’s website.
“Temperatures have been 10 to 15 degrees above normal for a while,” Tucker said. “We still don’t have green grass and foliage across the province, which means the ground is very dry.”
The northern province has experienced extremely warm conditions and high winds, Tucker said, and residents are not allowed to have open log fires on public or private property while the fires are burning.
Since January, Alberta has had 348 wildfires that have burned more than 61,776 acres, Tucker said.
“This is significantly more wildfire activity at this time of year than we have certainly seen in recent memory,” Tucker noted.