Canadian wildfires force thousands to evacuate in 3 provinces, endangering air quality in US states

FLIN FLON, MB – Officials have reported that more than 25,000 residents across three provinces have had to be evacuated due to ongoing wildfires, which have also led to reduced air quality in parts of both Canada and the U.S. The wildfires continued to burn actively on Sunday.

The majority of the evacuees were from Manitoba, where a state of emergency was declared the previous week. By Saturday, around 17,000 individuals had been evacuated from Manitoba, with an additional 1,300 from Alberta and approximately 8,000 from Saskatchewan, where officials cautioned that this number could rise further.

Smoke was worsening air quality and reducing visibility in Canada and into some U.S. states along the border.

The Public Safety Agency in Saskatchewan issued a warning on Sunday about the fluctuating air quality and visibility caused by the wildfire smoke. They emphasized that the levels of smoke could quickly change over short distances and vary significantly from one hour to the next, leading to increased health risks as the smoke levels rise.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said ongoing hot, dry weather is allowing some fires to grow and threaten communities, and resources to fight the fires and support the evacuees are stretched thin.

“The next four to seven days are absolutely critical until we can find our way to changing weather patterns, and ultimately a soaking rain throughout the north,” Moe said at a Saturday news conference.

In Manitoba, more than 5,000 of those evacuated are from Flin Flon, located nearly 645 kilometers (400 miles) northwest of the provincial capital of Winnipeg. In northern Manitoba, fire knocked out power to the community of Cranberry Portage, forcing a mandatory evacuation order Saturday for about 600 residents.

The fire menacing Flin Flon began a week ago near Creighton, Saskatchewan, and quickly jumped the boundary into Manitoba. Crews have struggled to contain it. Water bombers have been intermittently grounded due to heavy smoke and a drone incursion.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service deployed an air tanker to Alberta and said it would send 150 firefighters and equipment to Canada.

In some parts of the U.S., air quality reached “unhealthy” levels Sunday in North Dakota and small swaths of Montana, Minnesota and South Dakota, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow page.

“We should expect at least a couple more rounds of Canadian smoke to come through the U.S. over the next week,” said Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in the U.S.

Separately, a fire in the U.S. border state of Idaho burned 50 acres (20 hectares) and prompted road closures, according to Idaho State Police.

Evacuation centers have opened across Manitoba for those fleeing the fires, one as far south as Winkler, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the U.S. border. Winnipeg opened up public buildings for evacuees as it deals with hotels already crammed with other fire refugees, vacationers, business people and convention-goers.

Manitoba’s Indigenous leaders said Saturday at a news conference that hotel rooms in the cities where evacuees are arriving are full, and they called on the government to direct hotel owners to give evacuees priority.

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said it was one of the largest evacuations in the province since the 1990s.

“It’s really sad to see our children having to sleep on floors. People are sitting, waiting in hallways, waiting outside, and right now we just need people to come together. People are tired,” Wilson said at a news conference.

Canada’s wildfire season runs from May through September. Its worst-ever wildfire season was in 2023. It choked much of North America with dangerous smoke for months.

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Associated Press reporter Julie Walker contributed from New York.