Fires have been raging in several Canadian provinces for weeks.

In light of major wildfires in Canada, more foreign firefighters are helping local authorities. According to the Canadian news agency “Canadian Press”, more than 300 emergency services from the United States and South Africa will reach the second largest country in the world in terms of area and assistance in the provinces of Nova Scotia and Alberta.

According to CBC public television broadcaster, more than 2,000 firefighters are deployed to the particularly affected Alberta region – 800 of them from the United States, and 224 from Australia and New Zealand.

Huge areas have been burning in several Canadian provinces for weeks. In the eastern region of Nova Scotia, more than 16,000 people have recently had to leave their homes, according to the City of Halifax. According to estimates at the beginning of the week, about 200 buildings were damaged. Western Canada has also been battling wildfires for weeks. Authorities report that more than 546 fires have burned more than 1 million acres in Alberta this year. This corresponds to about two-thirds of the size of Schleswig-Holstein. According to the authorities, the fires were caused by people in more than half of the cases, of which 59 were caused by lightning strikes.

With climate change, experts warn that wildfires will become more frequent and more destructive. In western Canada’s prairie provinces, the average temperature has risen by 1.9°C since the mid-20th century, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.