Thousands flee as Canada's Manitoba province declares wildfire emergency

More than 17,000 people in Canada's western Manitoba province were being evacuated on May 28 as the region experienced its worst start to a wildfire season in years.

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OTTAWA - More than 17,000 people in Canada's western Manitoba province were being evacuated on May 28 as the region experienced its worst start to a wildfire season in years.

"The Manitoba government has declared a province-wide state of emergency due to the wildfire situation," Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told a news conference.

"This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people's living memory," he said.

Mr. Kinew said he asked Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to authorize the military to help with the evacuations and firefighting.

Military aircraft, he said, would be deployed "imminently" to help move people out of endangered remote northern communities to safety, along with additional fire-fighting resources.

The evacuations include the city of Flin Flon, where 5,000 residents were told earlier to get ready to flee on a moment's notice as a major wildfire bore down on the mining city named after a fictional character in a 1905 paperback novel.

Residents of several other remote towns and indigenous communities have also been told to leave.