About 17,000 residents have been evacuated as nearly two dozen wildfires rip through the Canadian province of Manitoba, officials say.
More than 5,000 of those residents are from the mining city Flin Flon, on the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border, where there is no rain in the immediate forecast.
There had been no fires in the mining city 650 kilometres north of the Manitoba capital of Winnipeg as of Saturday morning, but officials worried a change in wind direction could bring the fire to town.
Manitoba declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as the fires burning from the north-west to the south-east forced evacuations in several communities.
Evacuation orders
Thousands have also been affected by wildfires in Saskatchewan and Alberta, with 1,300 people in the community of Swan Hills north-west of Edmonton forced from their homes.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe told a news conference on Saturday that ongoing hot, dry weather is allowing some fires to grow and threaten communities, and that the current figure of 8,000 fire evacuees in the province could climb to 10,000.
Resources to fight the fires and support the evacuees are stretched thin, the premier said.
"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," Mr Moe said.
Evacuation centres have opened across the province for those fleeing the fires, including one just 20 kilometres from the US border.
The fire menacing Flin Flon began on Monday in Saskatchewan, and quickly jumped the boundary into Manitoba.
Crews have struggled to contain it, with water bombers forced to intermittently ground due to heavy smoke and a drone incursion.
Worsen air quality
Smoke from the fire is being pushed south to some parts of the US, worsening air quality.
Through parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the air quality is deemed unhealthy for people and animals.
The US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service said it had deployed an air tanker to Alberta, and the US was sending 150 firefighters to Canada.
"We are here to help our neighbours during their time of need, and our Forest Service Wildland Firefighters are the best in the business. I am thankful for the men and women who are bravely stepping up to serve, " US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L Rollins said in a statement.
Its worst-ever wildfire season was in 2023 when the burning fires choked much of North America with dangerous smoke for months.
Canada's wildfire season runs from May through September.
ABC/wires
