Firefighters in the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta are on the high watch for a rise in fires over the long weekend. After a rough start to the wildfire season, homes have been evacuated and property has been damaged.
This year, record-high temperatures and a lack of rain have caused fires to spread across nearly 830,000 hectares (2 million acres) of land in Alberta. This is about 10 times the size of Calgary, the province’s biggest city.
Before the Victoria Day weekend, some parks and sites in Alberta have been closed, and people are being asked to avoid doing things that could start wildfires so that firefighting resources don’t get too low.
During the holiday weekend, when people generally go camping or do other outdoor activities in warmer weather, there are usually more wildfires. Some of these fires are started by accident by people.
“We will all be on high alert this weekend,” said Alberta Wildfire’s information unit manager, Christie Tucker, on Friday. “We’re ready to keep working on the wildfires that are already burning, we’re ready for new ones to start, and we’re still bringing in more resources.”
On Friday, about 93 active wildfires were being fought by over 2,800 firefighters from Canada and the United States. On Saturday, more firemen were expected to join the fight.
The tweet below verifies the news:
Alberta on high alert for wildfire upsurge over scorching holiday weekend https://t.co/TIPKuOG9LI pic.twitter.com/knvugWWlmW
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 20, 2023
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s emergency management skills have been put to the test by the wildfires. On May 29, the province will hold an election.
Alberta government officials said that as of Friday, more than 10,000 people were still forced to leave their homes because 275 homes, businesses, and other buildings had been destroyed. Several oil and gas companies have had to stop and start production because of fire risks that change over time.
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Gas moving from Canada to the U.S. has averaged just 7.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) over the past couple of weeks. This is much less than the average of 8.4 bcfd since the beginning of 2023 and 9.0 bcfd in 2022, according to Refinitiv.
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