Crews battle western Canada wildfires

Canadian authorities continue to battle wildfires throughout the country, as tens of thousands of residents were placed on evacuation orders Sunday.

Authorities said 35,000 residents were placed under an evacuation order in British Columbia as fire crews still continue to put out fires across the province. 

The provincial government also issued a state of emergency, urging residents not to travel to the central interior and southeast portions of the province for non-essential reasons. 

“It is still very much dynamic,” British Columbia Wildfire Service chief Jerrad Schroeder said in a statement. “There’s still portions of this fire that we just have not prioritized.”

Fire crews are also trying to keep blazes under control in the country’s Northwest Territories, an area where forecasters warned that drier and windier weather conditions were approaching. 

Officials in the Northwest Territories capital, Yellowknife, said in a Facebook post they were working with 20 contractors and 75 volunteers to establish wildfire defense lines around the city, as crews are managing to keep off flames from advancing toward the city. 

Nearly 20,000 of the city’s residents have evacuated due to the ongoing situation; there are 237 wildfires burning in the Territory. 

“We are not out of the woods yet as many factors can change the status of a fire quickly,” the social media post said.

Canada has dealt with a record number of wildfires this year. The wildfires also greatly affected the country’s neighbors in the south, as the wildfires caused choking smoke in parts of the U.S. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said authorities have approved British Columbia’s request for federal assistance and added that the government is deploying assets from the Canadian Armed Forces to assist in evacuations.

“We’ll continue to be here with whatever support is needed,” Trudeau wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

The Associated Press contributed.