Canada has appealed for international help to deal with the fires that have been raging in the western part of the country for more than ten days, with the fire front now spreading from Alberta to other provinces.
«The situation in Alberta remains very worrying and dangerous and one of the biggest challenges is that now a significant number of fires have broken out in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories,» said Bill Blair, Canada's Minister of Public Safety.
Ottawa is «turning to other countries - the US, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand - to help,» he added.
So far the fires have raged mainly in Alberta, one of the world's major oil producers, destroying more than 5,000,000 hectares of forest and fields as well as homes and businesses.
About 2,500 firefighters from across Canada and 400 soldiers have been deployed to the province to tackle the fires, of which 27 are still out of control. In British Columbia yesterday, Wednesday, 60 fires were active, including 15 out of control.
«Undoubtedly this summer will be difficult and we will need help,» said Jose St. Ong, a spokeswoman for Alberta Rescue Services.
«Given the number of fires raging at the moment, it will take months to deal with them, unless there is a significant change in weather conditions that brings a lot of moisture,» he added, calling it a «long battle».
In addition, Alberta has appealed to the province's approximately 20,000 civil servants, calling on anyone with experience to offer to help fight the fires.
April in western Canada has been very dry, with record high temperatures recorded since early May and strong winds.
A cold front this week dropped the temperature and helped bring some fires under control. However, no precipitation is forecast, and instead a new rise in temperatures is expected.
Due to the cold front and strong winds blowing in Alberta, smoke from the fires has spread to neighbouring provinces, worsening air quality in western Canada.
