REGINA — The northern wildfire situation in Saskatchewan appears to be settling down, after several days of harrowing conditions that impacted highways throughout the North.
Several highways were closed during the height of the crisis, including at one point Highway 2 south of Lac La Ronge and Highway 135 from Pelican Narrows to Sandy Bay.
Now, after wet weather and progress in fighting the fires with several now listed as contained, a number of evacuees have been able to return home and many highways are back open. But there are still some closures in areas still impacted by fires.
As of Wednesday morning Highway Hotline was reporting only highways 912, 123, 106, and 167 were still closed. Highways 106 and 167 are both in the areas around Creighton and Denare Beach where evacuation orders have not yet been lifted.
Highways Minister David Marit was asked about the situation up North at a media availability Tuesday.
“Well, first and foremost, I really got to thank the workers that we have up there. The team has been absolutely incredible,” said Marit. “They've been sharing with the other ministries and other entities in any way we can.”
However, Marit acknowledged they did lose infrastructure. Among the reports of infrastructure lost during the wildfire was the bridge at Clam Crossing on Highway 935.
“We lost some bridges and things like that. But I can't thank our employees and the workers up there, the entire team up there, on how fast they responded. Obviously, when you lose a bridge, you've lost the road. But our team up there found a way to put either a pipe in place and then fill it in so at least the firefighting teams could use the road network and things like that. So they did an amazing job.”
He said the collaboration between all the ministries “was phenomenal,” adding “we really saw some very dramatic things, but some very, I would say, humbling because the people up there that did all the work and really put their life at risk to make sure that the people up there were safe is something that we really owe a debt of gratitude to everybody that worked up there to make sure that the residents of the northern communities were safe.”
One issue Marit was asked about was about points of access for people up North, with a limited number of routes for people to take.
“Well, I think that's probably some of the lessons that will be learned from all of this and just what we did go through," said Marit. "I think our road network up there for a lot of communities is quite good because a lot of them were driven out. And I have to say that there was highways people up there that were actually leading people to make sure that they got through. I can't imagine, not only the smoke but the heat and the flames and everything else, that our highways workers knew where the roads were and were guiding people through. And that's a phenomenal thing to be able to do.”
Marit noted they were focused on making sure everyone was safe. “My understanding is, I stand to be corrected, but my understanding is no lives lost. It's something that we can take with a lot of respect to the people that worked up there.
"And I think we'll have to group after this and just see what lessons learned and what are some of the things that we could do to improve and make sure that communities are safe.”
