Canada calls for foreign help to fight spreading wildfires

Alberta, The Gulf Observer: Canada called for foreign help to combat wildfires burning out of control and spreading across vast swathes of the western half of the country, according to media reports.

The fires that have devastated the oil-producing Alberta province have in recent days spread to neighboring British Columbia and Saskatchewan as well as the Northwest Territories.

Some 2,500 firefighters from across Canada backed by 400 military personnel have been deployed across Alberta to try to tame the wildfires, which have already burned more than half a million hectares of forests and grasslands and destroyed many homes and businesses.

But they aren’t enough, officials said.

“It’s still a very significant and dangerous situation in Alberta,” federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair told reporters in Ottawa.

Blair said the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center “is reaching out to foreign countries — the United States, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand… We’re asking them to come and help us.”

Smoke from the wildfires has blanketed western Canada, leading to warnings about poor air quality posing risks to health.

In Calgary, the sky had an orange hue to it as the smoke grew thicker throughout the day.

Hundreds of kilometers (miles) to the east, residents of Regina and Saskatoon in neighboring Saskatchewan province said they woke up to a thick haze and a strong smell of smoke in the air.

Across the region, almost 180 wildfires were burning — including 48 out of control forcing tens of thousands to flee over the past two weeks.