Officials in Canada’s easternmost province have declared a state of emergency as crews battle the region’s worst wildfires in more than 50 years.

The spreading flames have consumed thousands of hectares of forest in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada over the past two weeks and remain out of control.

“In the last 36 hours things have changed,” Prime Minister Andrew Furey told reporters on Sunday. “We expected that we could handle this. However, with the changing wind, we are concerned that there will be a significant impact from the smoke… This is a dynamic and evolving situation, like all fires, but we cannot wait until the last minute, we must act now.

According to British media outlet The Guardian, Furey said his government had declared a state of emergency ‘not to cause panic’ but to ensure the province is able to better manage the rapidly changing situation. .

The fires have been burning for nearly two weeks in central Newfoundland and Labrador, helped by high winds. The Paradise Lake fire is estimated at over 6,500 hectares and the Bay d’Espoir fire at over 5,000 hectares.

Large forest fires are relatively rare in the Atlantic Province. But a summer of intense, dry heat left its forests vulnerable to huge, fast-moving blazes.

Craig Coady, incident commander for the Department of Natural Resources, told reporters that crews had witnessed “extreme fire behavior” in recent days, which had officials concerned.

“We hope it will continue for today and maybe for the next few days. This is due to strong winds and low humidity.

Coady said the heavy smoke is complicating efforts to fight the flames.

“If the bombers [de água] they can’t see in front of the fire and it’s very smoky, it’s not safe for them to operate,” he said, adding that poor air quality was also the biggest problem. for nearby residents.

The province has not yet ordered evacuations, but officials said they are prepared to order residents out of at-risk communities. Canadian military personnel would be deployed to assist with evacuation efforts, federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair tweeted on Sunday.