FOG BLOG CANADA LOG: 300 TROOPS DEPLOYED TO ALBERTA TO HELP WITH FIGHTING OUT OF CONTROL FIRES!

300 troops being deployed to fight Alberta wildfires, more than $2M paid out to evacuees 200 troops already deployed, 100 more arriving this weekend About 200 troops have been deployed by the Canadian Armed Forces to help fight wildfires burning across Alberta, and 100 more will be joining the battle to tame the flames over the weekend, the province's public safety minister said Thursday.

"Units will deploy to the Grande Prairie, Fox Creek and Drayton Valley areas soon, so Albertans will see movement on roads and in the air," Mike Ellis, minister of public safety and emergency services, said in wildfire update news conference.

More than 6,500 applications have been received for emergency financial assistance, with $2 million in email transfers sent to evacuees and $77,000 in debit cards distributed. The number of evacuees is now 16,470, down from a high of about 31,000 at the peak of the emergency.

The soldiers are being deployed as communities across the province brace for the danger to escalate. After a few days of relative calm, the return of hot, dry weather this weekend threatens to make conditions more volatile.

As of Thursday afternoon, 82 wildfires continue to burn in forest protection areas, 23 of them out of control. Seven other fires are burning outside those areas.

Troops from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and 1 Combat Engineer Regiment are setting up bases of operations in Grande Prairie County and Drayton Valley, the provincial government said Thursday.