The western Canadian province of Saskatchewan declared a wildfire emergency on Thursday, becoming the second to do so after neighboring Manitoba had ordered 17,000 people to quickly flee their homes in remote communities a day earlier.
“It’s a very serious situation that we’re faced with in Saskatchewan,” the province’s Premier Scott Moe told a news conference.
“We are putting in place every measure possible to prepare our communities,” he continued.
Around 4,000 residents were evacuated from the province earlier this week, and more evacuations appear possible with no rain in the weather forecast.
“Looking ahead, it doesn’t look good. It looks like it is going to further deteriorate,” Moe added.
Manitoba declared a province-wide state of emergency late Wednesday and ordered the evacuations of several small towns and Indigenous communities as the province experienced its worst start to a wildfire season in years.
Many of the weary evacuees arrived in …