Alberta, May 17 (BNA): Smoke covered the sky across much of Alberta on Wednesday as firefighters from Canada and the United States battled a raging wildfire that has prompted evacuations, disrupted rail service and shut down power production in Canada’s main oil-producing province.
Hot, dry conditions have caused a strong and early start to the wildfire season in Alberta. As of Wednesday, there were 91 wildfires in the Alberta Forest Conservation Area, including 27 that were out of control, Reuters reported.
A cold front this week moderated historically high temperatures and helped fight the fires, prompting authorities to lift some evacuation orders on Tuesday. Alberta officials said in a news briefing Wednesday that the number of evacuees has fallen to about 12,000 from a peak of more than 30,000 earlier this month.
Alberta’s Minister of Public Safety, Mike Ellis, told the news conference that the lack of rain and warmer temperatures expected later this week meant wildfire conditions remained very volatile.
The cold front brought strong winds that carried wildfire smoke into neighboring provinces and left much of western Canada with foul air.
MI