Canadian crews battle wildfire threatening remote western town

14/5/2024 6:13

        Firefighters on Monday battled a large wildfire heading towards a remote western Canadian town as winds and tinder dry conditions threatened to spread the flames further, a provincial minister said.
        
        The largely evacuated town of Fort Nelson in British Columbia is in the line of one of the season's first major wildfires that have spread to 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) across Western Canada and are sending smoke plumes over five provinces, as well as parts of the northern U.S.
        
        Bowinn Ma, British Columbia's minister of emergency management and climate readiness, said conditions in the north of the Pacific province - an area that includes Fort Nelson - were extremely challenging.
        
        "With no major precipitation in the forecast ahead and winds that can they can pick up at any time, we ... are extremely concerned," she told a televised briefing. "We may begin to see volatile wildfire activity later this afternoon."