Entire province in Western Canada under state of emergency due to fires

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) - A province-wide state of emergency was declared Saturday in the Alberta province of Canada where more than 24,000 residents have been evacuated due to raging wildfires.

Premier Danielle Smith called it an “unprecedented crisis” as 103 fires encompassed 121,909 hectares (301,243 acres). Since early Friday, 45 new wildfires were charted.

Despite the state of emergency, Smith moved to allay fears.

"I want to assure everyone that our province has the right tools, the right technology, and the right resources in place to tackle this challenge, and they will get the supports that they need," she said.

“We’ll spend whatever it takes,” said Smith. “We should be aware that in our budget process we put aside CAN$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) as a contingency because we know that any given year you can end up with a significant amount of resources that need to spend on emergency management … so I don’t think anyone needs to worry that there will not be sufficient resources.”

The federal government is on alert to send aid when and if requested, Smith added.

More residents may be evacuated as higher-than-normal temperatures and dry and windy conditions continue to feed the fires.