PRINCE ALBERT - Here is the latest wildfire update from the SPSA for Friday, June 20:
As of today Saskatchewan has 19 active fires, for 265 in total this year which compares to a five-year average of 159.
Vice-President of Operations Steve Roberts said they "continue to work on these fires to achieve containment with the intent of getting folks repatriated back into their communities and these fires secured while we have the advantage of favorable weather."
To do that, he said, type 3 firefighters have joined their ranks on some fires and they continue to get out-of-province assistance from a number of agencies.
As for fires of note Roberts reported the following:
The SHOE fire has not grown in size in the last number of days. It is currently listed as 40 per cent contained.
The PISEW fire by La Ronge has also not grown in size and is currently listed as 20 per cent contained.
The WOLF fire in the Denare Beach area is listed as 30 per cent contained.
A number of highways are still impacted, and those include 912, 927, 167 and 106 by the Creighton entrance from the west.
More evacuees are expected to return home soon
There are still about 2,000 people evacuated, 300 of those being supported by the SPSA, but Roberts said they are seeing movement.
"We expect to see repatriation of Whelan Bay starting later today and tomorrow," said Roberts.
"We're looking at an estimate of Creighton and Denare Beach repatriating on June 22 which is Sunday, and we're looking for an announcement update on East Trout Lake later today on their status and when they may be able to return for assessments and seeing their properties as well."
The values confirmed to be burned by fire are 1,931. 299 of those are houses, 60 of those are cabins.
SPSA says they have been working with government partners to redistribute and allocate $3.8 million to communities for distribution to those impacted by evacuation activities. That is $500 dollars per resident over the age of 18 in those locations. Roberts said they will also be directly taking care of that activity as an agency to Denare Beach, "so we will be able to make arrangements to get them their their recovery dollars once they repatriate here early next week."
He also notes the government of Saskatchewan is "working and establishing a recovery task force which will be leading the efforts on getting folks back to their houses and getting people and communities back up and running in full operational status so that includes the rebuild, assessments involving insurance companies, town structures and again a number of activities that will have to take place for folks that have suffered loss to these fires."
SPSA President Marlo Pritchard said of the recovery task force that they will be meeting with community leaders early next week and to determine what those needs are and how quickly we can address them.
"I have been personally in contact with the leadership of both Denare and Creighton and we will again do that needs assessment and how quickly to support either in a temporary or more of a permanent fashion while the communities are being rebuilt. So I don't have a timeline but I do know that we will be meeting with those community leaders next week."
