In what seems like it’ll be the new normal, CTV News reports that 122 wildfires – 32 of them deemed “out of control” – most of them in the northern reaches of British Columbia and Alberta or in neighboring Saskatchewan or the Northwest Territories – are burning as of Friday morning.
At least 60,000 people have been evacuated in Alberta alone – remember, this is a pretty vast and sparsely populated region, which speaks to the scale of the fires. More than 4,000 square kilometers have been burned already in 1,023 recorded wildfires in 2024. The weather forecast calls for a low pressure system bringing light rain over the next few days that will slow but not snuff out the flames.