Canada Canada: Alberta continues battling wildfires, displaces about 30,000 people
Alberta/IBNS: A change in weather conditions in Canada's Alberta facilitated firefighters to fight wildfires which had displaced approximately 30,000 Albertans this past week, officials said.
"Today we've seen some light scattered showers in the southern part of the province, as far north as Fox Creek... allowed firefighters...get a little closer to areas of the fire that they had not been able to get into before...priorities today have been and always are wildfires that are threatening communities or human lives," said Christie Tucker, information unit manager with Alberta Wildfire.
There were 108 active wildfires as of Sunday afternoon across Alberta with 31 wildfires classified as out-of-control.
Officials reportedly said that determination of the extent of damage is difficult with conditions remaining volatile.
"In some cases, ongoing smoke and fire conditions prevent us from fully assessing property loss and until we can do that, we are limited in the details we can provide," said Colin Blair, executive director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency. "But our first priority is protecting lives and dealing with the emergency response."
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
