VS’is an “unprecedented” situation in western Canada, according to Alberta Prime Minister Danielle Smith. The Canadian province has been ravaged by severe fires for several days. A state of emergency was declared on Saturday May 6th after counting a hundred forest fires.

Around 25,000 residents have already had to leave their homes. Authorities have also asked thousands of other people to be ready to leave at any time. “We have declared a state of emergency in the province to protect the safety, health and welfare of Albertans,” the official-elect said during a news conference.

A third of 110 fires fueled by high winds are out of control. This Canadian province, one of the world’s largest oil producers, “experienced a hot and dry spring and with so many small forests, it only takes a few sparks to start really scary fires,” Danielle Smith previously explained. . All of these factors together “have led to the unprecedented situation our province is facing today.”

Additional funds and release of funds

Around 122,000 hectares have already burned down, she said, and twenty towns have been evacuated. Drayton Valley, a town of 7,000 in Alberta about 140 kilometers west of Edmonton, is among the evacuated communities. In Fox Lake in the north of the province, a violent fire devastated twenty homes, a shop and a police station. Residents were evacuated by boats and helicopters.

The state of emergency gives the provincial government “increased powers to respond to extreme situations,” the provincial premier said, specifically to mobilize additional funds and release emergency funds.

Alberta – in the middle of the election campaign – a large area of ​​the neighboring province of Saskatchewan and a large part of the Northwest Territories are currently exposed to an extreme fire risk, according to a map from the federal government.

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