'Firefighters can experience challenging conditions in hot, dry and windy weather, but progress has been made on many active wildfires,' said Christie Tucker, information unit manager at Alberta Wildfire.

The wildfires, which officials said are significantly higher in number than usual, have put Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's disaster management skills - as well as her party's policies - under the microscope ahead of the provincial election. Lifting of evacuation orders has helped bring down the number of evacuees from over 17,000 earlier this week. There were about 92 active wildfires and over 10,000 people out of their homes as of Thursday, Alberta officials told a daily briefing. gas futures have gained about 13% over the past two weeks since those Canadian exports started to decline. Lower 48 keeps demand for the fuel low for both heating and cooling. natural gas futures gained about 2% on Thursday to a two-week high on the reduction in imports from Canada even as mild weather in the U.S. The amount of gas flowing from Canada to the United States dropped to a fresh 25-month low of 6.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) on Wednesday, according to Refinitiv, as wildfires disrupted production. Wildfires have also proliferated in neighboring British Columbia, as well as in Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces. The oil-rich province of Alberta, which is holding provincial elections on May 29, has been hit the hardest, with tens of thousands of people to forced to evacuate homes this year.

Record-high temperatures and tinder-dry vegetation have led to an intense, early start to the wildfire season in western Canada this year and forecasters see no improvement in conditions at least until next week. OTTAWA, May 18 (Reuters) - Alberta officials on Thursday warned more wildfires could spread in next few hot and dry days, even as firefighters make progress in tackling widespread blazes that have slowed the outflow of natural gas from Canada into the United States, spiking prices.

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