Smoke pours into the US as Canada wildfires force province’s largest evacuation in ‘living memory’

(CNN) — Massive wildfires burning out of control in western and central Canada are forcing thousands to flee as dire forecasts for the country’s fire season come to fruition. The intensifying blazes are also sending hazardous smoke toward major cities in the United States.

The premiers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan provinces have declared monthlong states of emergency, and much of Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Ontario, are at “extreme” risk of wildfires on Friday — the highest level on Environment Canada’s fire risk scale .

There are just over 170 wildfires burning across Canada as of Thursday, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, about half of them uncontrolled. The country raised its National Preparedness Level to 5 of 5 on Thursday, unu