Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to provide update on provincial wildfire situation

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is expected to provide an update on the province's ongoing wildfires later this afternoon.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is expected to provide an update on the province's ongoing wildfires later this afternoon.

A press conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. MDT.  Smith will be joined by Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis and other officials.

Several thousand people have been ordered to leave their homes as more than 100 wildfires burn across Alberta.

Smith activated the cabinet's emergency management committee Friday and said there would be daily media briefings on the wildfire situation.

So far this year, 348 wildfires have burned more than 25,000 hectares across the province. 

In Fox Lake, about 550 kilometres north of Edmonton, the province said a 4,400-hectare wildfire destroyed 20 homes, an RCMP detachment, a store and the community's water treatment plant.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2023.