In view of the numerous forest fires in the Canadian province of Alberta, a state of emergency has been declared. This was announced by the provincial Prime Minister, Danielle Smith, on Twitter in the evening (local time). All resources must be used to combat the “unprecedented crisis”. According to the authorities, almost 25,000 people have had to leave their homes. 109 fires are active and spreading quickly 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 Wildfire Fire Protection Agency said, according to broadcaster CBC, that an average of 800 hectares would otherwise have burned down at this time of year. Strong winds and high temperatures are also expected to continue. 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 only twelve hectares in size, others stretched over thousands of hectares. The high temperatures, the wind and the drought favored the spread of the fires.
