Manitoba's premier says the Canadian prairie city of Flin Flon hasbeen virtually deserted and more evacuees were expected as wildfires raged in the province.

Premier Wab Kinew told a news conference that the mayor, councilors, health-care staff and other officials have had to depart Flin Flon, a city of 5,000 people.

“The only folks remaining on the ground are firefighters and folks in the office of the fire commissioner and RCMP, who are there to battle the blaze,” Kinew said.

The evacuees are among 17,000 people reported so far to have left their homes due to a number of wildfires burning in remote regions from Manitoba’s northwest to the southeast.

Earlier on Friday, Flin Flon Mayor George Fontaine said fierce winds were threatening to breach the city limits and begin burning structures in the city located nearly 400 miles (645 kilometers) northwest of the provincial capital of Winnipeg.