In the isolated town of Fort Nelson, in the northeastern province of British Columbia, and a neighboring indigenous community, 4,700 residents were ordered to evacuate. This was stated by provincial crisis management minister Bowinn Ma.

The evacuation is linked to one of Canada’s first major wildfires of the year. The fire covers 524 square kilometers and was 2.5 kilometers from Fort Nelson on Monday.

14 out of control

British Columbia authorities had recorded 137 wildfires in the province as of Monday morning, 14 of which were out of control.

In the neighboring province of Alberta, further east, firefighters and helicopters are battling 45 active fires, including two out of control.

Traffic on some rail lines in British Columbia and Alberta was suspended later Monday due to the forest fires.

It is also burning in the province of Manitoba. There, 550 people were evacuated over the weekend as a 350-square-kilometer wildfire quickly approached the mining town of Flin Flon, located on the border with the province of Saskatchewan.

Bad air

Smoke from the fires drifted south and triggered warnings about poor air quality in the U.S. states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Canadian authorities are preparing for what could be another season of potentially devastating wildfires. Last year was the worst year of wildfires on record in the country, where more than 150,000 square kilometers of land were ravaged from coast to coast.