A Canadian province declared a state of emergency
The reason is large-scale forest fires.
On May 6, the government of Alberta declared a state of emergency in the province. All the forces were rushed to prevent the cataclysm. Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario are also helping tremendously.
In an emergency, the province has access to emergency funds, it also can mobilize additional support, and can continue working with municipalities, organizations and businesses to support affected residents.
About 30,000 people were forced to leave their homes because of the spread of the fires, some were evacuated to safe areas by boats and helicopters. Some of the locals joined the rescue services.
For a while the weather eased rescuers efforts: heavy rains somehow disrupted the active phase of the fire, but still it was not enough to stop it completely.
""Today we've seen some light scattered showers in the southern part of the province, as far north as Fox Creek. The good news is that it did have an impact on fire behavior today in that area," Christie Tucker, information unit manager with Alberta Wildfire.
The provincial government deployed all available resources to solve the problem, but by Sunday more than 122,000 hectares of land had been burned.
Wildfire risk is nothing new to Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan, as well as the Northwest Territories. The federal government is always ready to help if the situation gets worse, but it usually does not happen.
"Unfortunately in the north of the province, firefighters will continue to be challenged with the conditions that they're seeing. Our priorities today have been and always are wildfires that are threatening communities or human lives," Tucker said.
There are currently 105 wildfire outbreaks in Alberta. By Sunday evening, 31 outbreaks had been classified as out of control. However, the rapidly changing landscape of the problem makes it impossible to fully assess the damage the fire has already done to the province, so all efforts are focused on keeping it from spreading even further and protecting local residents as well as flora and fauna of local ecosystems.
Alberta Wildfire management assured locals and rescuers arriving from other parts of the country that there are enough resources to stop this disaster.
