Two neighboring provinces on the Canadian Prairie have declared a state of emergency as dozens of wildfires burned, went out of control and drove thousands of residents.
Saskatchewan Prime Minister Scott Mo issued an emergency order Thursday the day after his fellow Manitoba Wab Kinneu did the same.
Fifteen communities have been displaced in northern Saskatchewan and is a rural area with several indigenous reserves.
“I’m worried that things will get worse with the weather ahead of us,” Mo told reporters at a press conference Thursday. The forecast showed no signs of much needed rain, but overnight temperatures and expected strong winds could accelerate the flames.
Canada’s wildfire season, which tends to be the most active from May to September, started off a tough start in Manitoba earlier this month, killing two people trapped and killed in a small western town before evacuation.
Emergency orders will be implemented for at least 30 days. They allow public safety officials to mobilize resources more quickly and seek help from other states. Wildland firefighters from British Columbia and Nova Scotia have already helped put out the flames in Saskatchewan.
Around 17,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate in Manitoba as fires intensify in the north and east of the province. When Kinew declared an emergency on Wednesday, he urged residents to be aware of official warnings and head to urban areas like Winnipeg if possible, accessing temporary housing and emergency assistance.
“This is the biggest evacuation Manitoba has seen in most people’s living memories,” Kinueu said at a press conference.
Canadian forces will support evacuations, including emergency flights, Keene added because of the “pure scale” of the effort.
So far, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have been the worst affected by Canadian wildfires, with 1.5 million acres burning in two provinces, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Truck Centre. It’s a region roughly sized in Delaware.
Canada experienced a record-breaking wildfire in 2023.
In 2021, the country was hit by a fierce heat wave that wore through parts of the Pacific Northwest. The Heat Dome caused 619 heat-related deaths in British Columbia, destroyed provincial towns, caused widespread droughts, selling herds of cattle to a handful of farmers in Manitoba and unable to feed the animals.
Last year, the country gave it a reprieve in a mild wildfire season.
It is not yet clear how this season will progress. However, June is an important month. Richard Kerr, a fire research analyst for Canada’s natural resources sector, said it tends to rain the most in western Canada.
“If that rain comes in June, maybe we’ll keep things a little quieter until summer,” Kerr said. “But once June gets dry, we’ll set the stage for a rather lively summer period.”
