Wildfire activity picked up in Saskatchewan over the past week, according to Steve Roberts, Vice-President of Wildfire Operations with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) during a virtual update Wednesday afternoon.
As of 6:00 p.m., 64 fires are active, including six that are contained, 21 not contained, 25 being monitored, and 12 that fire crews are protecting cabins infrastructure from. There have been a total of 329 wildfires in the province so far this year, well above the five-year average of 185. The SPSA is also responding to four evacuations, bringing the year-to-date total to 21, as well as five other emergency support such as search and rescue, among other things. These numbers are from the SPSA website and are subject to change.
Roberts said recent storms that brought cooler weather also had lightning and as areas dried out additional fires spawned, primarily on the western half of the province.
There are several fires they're fighting to extinguish. He said the the Shoe fire is approximately 554,000 hectares in size but crews have it contained with the "most active parts of the fire actually in the far north near highway 165."
Another contained fire is the Pisew fire, west of La Ronge, which is about 185,000 hectares in size with the most active parts on the north side as crews continue to "clean up those fire guards for containment", Roberts noted.
The Wolf fire, west of Denare Beach, is 161,000 hectares and was described by Roberts as "fairly stable" with "no very active areas but crews continue to work that fire to achieve containment and be weary of hot spots or flare ups."
The Santo fire that was reported on June 2 is currently listed at 20,000 hectares and is in the proximity of Pinehouse, Roberts said, and fire personnel are working on that fire.
"It does have some values - highway 914, highway 910, and some SaskPower infrastructure, but we have support on that for crews: helicopter and air tanker support." said Roberts.
The Ditch02 fire, north of Weyakwin, is not contained with a current size of 183,000 hectares with helicopter, air tanker and heavy equipment supporting firefighting efforts and Roberts noted the most active part of the fire is in the vicinity of highway 165.
The Muskeg fire, north of the community of Beauval, is among the new fires that started over the weekend. Roberts said the fire is over 8,000 hectares in size and its resulted in the closures of highways 918 and 165 and "currently have evacuations listed."
To help with the increased fire activity, Roberts said they're bringing in a pair of water bombing aircraft from Quebec and are still looking at bringing additional crews in from other parts of Canada as well as other jurisdictions, whether that be from the U.S. or internationally.
More evacuations from the wildfires
Marlo Pritchard, the President of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, provided an update on evacuation and recovery efforts.
Pritchard said the Bear Creek resort subdivision declared an evacuation and about 45 individuals did evacuate with 18 being supported by the SPSA and the reminder "went to family and friends."
People in the Lac la Plonge subdivision also evacuated with most being cabin owners and are not being supported by SPSA, noted Pritchard.
He adds about 140 people from La Plonge First Nation evacuated and are being supported by the Meadow Lake Tribal Council.
"We continue to support two people from East Trout Lake and we continue to support about 15 individuals from the Denare (Beach) and Creighton areas," Pritchard said. "We are also aware that there's other communities in the area that are currently considering evacuations and they're monitoring the situation. We are reminding residents that they can call 1-855-559-5502 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. for assistance."
Pritchard also reminds people who haven't evacuated yet to check with community leaders for next steps in the event they need to leave.
He mentioned $5.1 million in financial support from the provincial government, in the form of $500 support payments, is being transferred to communities to then distribute to affected residents. The SPSA is helping with the distribution of those funds this week and will continue to do so next week, he said.
Pritchard also said communities can apply for more assistance through the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program (PDAP) to cover costs related to recovery, but stressed that it's not a replacement for individual insurance.
The Recovery Task Team is focused on most severely impacted communities and people who lost their permanent homes from the wildfires by offering debris management, post-disaster accommodation, and mental health supports.
When asked if the Provincial State of Emergency would be reinstated, Pritchard said not at this time but that could change if the situation changes.
