The hasty evacuations of residents continued yesterday, Sunday western canadadue to the continuing spread of wildfires, with the total number of people who have fled their homes now approaching 30,000 in a matter of days, an “unprecedented” situation for this time of year.

On Saturday, authorities in the province of Alberta were forced to declare a state of emergency emergency and ordered the hasty evacuation of some 25,000 residents.

Yesterday Sunday afternoon they remained active 107 forest fires and areas of low vegetation across the province, 28 of which were not controlled by firefighters.

“We’ve had some light rain in places in the southern part of the province,” explained Christy Tucker, a spokeswoman for the province’s emergency services, during a press conference Sunday in Edmonton.

“This allowed the firefighters to attempt more aggressively in some zones where they had not been able to approach, due to the extreme behavior of the fires,” she added, expressing relief at this “good news.”

But this lull “unfortunately” does not apply to the northern part of the province, where conditions remain very difficult, Mrs Tucker stressed.

In the fight against fires, the authorities give emphasis in residential areas. Drayton Valley, a town of 7,000 in Alberta, about 140 kilometers west of Edmonton, was among the communities evacuated.

In Fox Lake, northern Alberta, flames charred 20 homes, a store and a police station. Residents were evacuated by boats and helicopters.

Conditions remain volatile and authorities say it is difficult to determine the exact extent of the damage at this time.

“In some cases, the smoke and the conditions prevent us from fully assessing the property damage,” explained Colin Blair of Alberta Emergency Management.

The specific Canadian provincewhose oil production is among the highest in the world, “is experiencing a warm and dry spring and with so much dry vegetation, a few sparks are enough to break out fires that are truly terrifying”, declared yesterday Saturday the Premier of the province, Danielle Smith.

Two forest fires that remain out of control in the neighboring British Columbia they also forced citizens to leave their homes, and authorities warned that they expect strong winds to blow over them in the next 24 hours.

Firefighters from Ontario and Quebec arrived in the province and deployed to various fronts.

For some years now, western Canada has been repeatedly hit by extreme weather events, the intensity and frequency of which is exacerbated by climate change.

In addition to the devastating floods it suffered, British Columbia was also tested, two years ago, by the effects of a “heat dome”, which was described as “historic”; it had claimed the lives of hundreds of people and was followed by widespread fires.