Thousands in Manitoba, Canada, instructed to leave due to wildfire crisis.

Over 17,000 individuals in the western Manitoba province of Canada were evacuated on Wednesday due to the area’s most severe beginning to the wildfire season in years.

“The Manitoba government has declared a province-wide state of emergency due to the wildfire situation,” Manitoba’s premier, Wab Kinew, told a news conference. “This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people’s living memory.”

Kinew mentioned he had requested Prime Minister Mark Carney to deploy the Canadian military for assistance with evacuations and firefighting efforts. Kinew stated that military aircraft would be sent “imminently” to assist in relocating individuals from at-risk remote northern communities to safety, along with extra firefighting equipment.

The climate crisis has resulted in an increase in both the frequency and intensity of wildfires in Canada. The nation has experienced catastrophic wildfires in recent years, with 2023 witnessing the worst on record.

Currently, there are 134 ongoing fires in Canada, affecting British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. Fifty percent are viewed as unruly. The evacuations involve the town of Flin Flon, where 5,000 inhabitants were previously advised to prepare for an immediate evacuation as a significant wildfire approached the mining community, named after a fictional character from a 1905 novel.

Approximately 1,000 individuals from Lynn Lake and the Marcel Colomb First Nation in Manitoba, along with 4,000 residents from the northern village of Pelican Narrows and additional communities in nearby Saskatchewan, had been evacuated earlier that week.

A firefighter sustained serious injuries after being hit by a tree that fell while he was fighting fires. Kinew stated that he was receiving care in the hospital.

The premier of Manitoba stated that emergency shelters were being established and businesses and communities throughout the province were being encouraged to “welcome” displaced residents. Earlier this month, two individuals from the small town of Lac du Bonnet lost their lives after becoming trapped in a large wildfire northeast of Winnipeg.