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In
the provincial capital Edmonton, Trudeau received an update on
firefighting efforts by Canadian soldiers sent to help
provincial firefighting and recovery efforts since Thursday.
More troops are expected to join in the coming days, according
to the Alberta government.
The widespread blazes have marked an intense start to wildfire
season in Alberta, forcing more than 30,000 people out of their
homes at one point and shuttering at least 319,000 barrels of
oil equivalent per day (boepd), or 3.7% of national production.
The first 11 days of May have set seasonal heat records in
several parts of Alberta, including Edmonton, according to
Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Lieutenant Colonel Ben Schmidt, one of the army officials who
briefed Trudeau, told him about the regions most at risk and how
a lack of rain in the forecast was "a huge challenge."
The forecast for Alberta shows a cold front sweeping through
starting Tuesday evening that would bring gusty winds, a slight
chance of a thunderstorm, but not much rain, said Sara Hoffman,
a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
"We're very concerned about the possibility of dry lightning in
an area that's already got a pretty high fire risk," Hoffman
said. Hot and dry conditions are expected to ramp up again from
Friday and are unlikely to ease at least until early next week.
By Monday afternoon, 90 fires were burning across Alberta, with
23 considered out of control and more than 17,400 evacuees. That
compared with 74 fires and about 16,500 evacuees on Friday.
"I don't believe the worst is behind us," Alberta Wildfire
agency official Christie Tucker said at a briefing.
Trudeau is due to leave for Seoul on Tuesday to meet South
Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, before moving on to Japan for a
G7 summit starting Friday.
Benchmark Canadian heavy crude prices have risen to multi-month
highs on concerns about the wildfires.
Late on Sunday, Paramount Resources said that due to the fires a
third-party gas processing plant and some Paramount fields were
shut, and it had curtailed 45,000 boepd.
Vermilion Energy said on Monday it had restored 60% of the
30,000 boepd that it previously shut in.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa, Anna Mehler Paperny in
Toronto and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by David Gregorio
and Stephen Coates)
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