Canada has appealed for international help to deal with wildfires that have been burning in the western part of the country for more than ten days, with the fire front now spreading from Alberta to other provinces.

“The situation in Alberta remains very alarming and dangerous, and one of the biggest challenges is that now a significant number of fires have broken out in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories,” said Bill Blair, Canada’s Public Safety Minister.

Ottawa is “looking to other countries – the US, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand – to help,” he added.

So far the fires have been raging mainly in Alberta, one of the world’s major oil producers, having destroyed more than 5,000,000 acres of forest and fields as well as homes and businesses.

About 2,500 firefighters from across Canada and 400 soldiers have been deployed to the province to tackle the fires, 27 of which are still out of control. In British Columbia yesterday, Wednesday, 60 fires were active, of which 15 were out of control.

“There’s no doubt this summer is going to be tough and we’re going to need help,” Alberta Emergency Services spokeswoman Jose St. Ong said.

“Given the number of fires currently raging, it will take months to tackle them unless there is a major change in weather conditions that will bring a lot of moisture,” he added, calling it a “long battle.”

Alberta also appealed to the province’s approximately 20,000 public servants, inviting anyone with experience to volunteer to help put out the fires.

April in western Canada has been very dry, with record high temperatures since early May as well as strong winds.

A cold front this week dropped temperatures and helped bring some fires under control. However, no rain is predicted, while on the contrary, a new rise in temperature is expected.

Due to the cold front and strong winds blowing in Alberta, smoke from the fires has been carried into neighboring provinces, worsening the air quality in western Canada.