Dozens of wildfires continue to burn across Alberta
Dozens of wildfires continue to burn across Alberta
20 June 2009
published by www.inews880.com
Canada —
A chance of showers in the forecast is music to the ears of fire fighters in the province.
Dozens of wildfires are burning, mainly in the eastern part of the Province.
Jeff Driscoll with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development says the start of lightning season has made things much worse.
He says “over the past week we’ve seen over 110,000 lightening strikes across Alberta and from those, they’ve contributed to the start of 220 wildfires. So 220 wild fires in a week is certainly a lot. And as of this morning 50 of those fires are still burning.”
That number has since decreased to 45 fires.
He adds that 900 fire fighters are battling, and keeping an eye on the hot spots. There are crews from all over Canada and even some from Mexico helping out. Two fires have yet to be contained.