Ottawa [Canada], May 14: Canada's main oil-producing province of Alberta is bracing for another hot and dry weekend, with warnings of more intense wildfires after a week of volatile weather forced thousands to evacuate homes and shuttered energy production.
Special alerts have been declared across western Canada, where officials have urged vigilance as temperatures in some areas are forecast to hit 30° Celsius (86°F), or 10 to 15 degrees more than usual.
"We are expecting hot and dry conditions in most of the province, which will make the wildfire danger climb," Alberta Wildfire official Josee St-Onge told a briefing on Friday.
"We're likely to see more intense wildfire activity this weekend and into early next week."
More than 100 wildfires over the past 1-1/2 weeks forced about 30,000 people to leave home at one point, while oil and gas producers had to shut in at least 319,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), or 3.7% of national production.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation