Evacuations continued this Sunday in Western Canada, due to the advance of forest fires, with which some 30,000 people were displaced in a few days, an “unprecedented” situation for this time of year.

The province of Alberta had to declare a state of emergency on Saturday after ordering the evacuation of some 25,000 people.

As night fell on Sunday, 107 fires were still active in this province, 28 of which had not yet been brought under control by firefighters.

“We had a few light and scattered showers in the southern part of the province,” Christie Tucker, spokeswoman for regional relief agencies, said at a Sunday news conference in Edmonton.

“This allowed firefighters to attack some areas they had been unable to approach due to the extreme behavior of the fires.”

But this “good news” does not cover the north of the province, where conditions remain complex, he added.

In their fight against the fires, the authorities are focusing on populated areas, such as the town of Drayton Valley, some 140 km west of Edmonton, or Fox Lake, in the north of the province.

“In some cases, ongoing smoke and fire conditions prevent us from fully assessing” property losses, said Colin Blair of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.

This Canadian province, one of Canada’s largest oil-producing regions, “had a hot, dry spring and with so much firewood, it only takes a few sparks to ignite some truly terrifying wildfires,” said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Saturday. .

Two out-of-control wildfires in neighboring British Columbia have also caused some people to flee their homes.

Firefighters from Ontario and Quebec arrived as reinforcements and were deployed in various regions.

In recent years, Western Canada has been repeatedly hit by extreme weather events, the intensity and frequency of which have increased due to global warming.

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