Forest fire reaches town in Canada

A forest fire at a major national park in western Canada reached an evacuated town on Wednesday evening, with the army preparing to send in reinforcements. Authorities have not specified what infrastructure was destroyed.

Around 25,000 people have been evacuated due to recent forest fires in the region, which is also fighting a heatwave. More than 400 fires have been recorded in British Columbia province on the Pacific coast and 176 in Alberta, including more than a dozen in the Fort McMurray region, the hub of oil sands development.

Around 1,900 Alberta firefighters have been deployed, assisted by personnel from Alaska and Australia. Canada experienced its most destructive fire season in history last summer, with more than 15 million hectares burned and around 200,000 people evacuated.