Fire threat increases in southern regions
As hot, dry weather persists across Saskatchewan this week, the threat of wildfires is “very extreme,” says a provincial official.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 37 wildfires were burning across the province as far south as the Saskatchewan-Montana border, where a fire started in the Moose Mountain area over the long weekend. Local volunteer firefighters and the Grasslands National Park fire service helped put out that blaze and are still on site making sure hot spots are doused.
“We have seen an increase in the number of fires and fire activity in the southern parts of the province,” said Duane McKay, the province’s director of emergency management and fire safety.
“We’d caution people to take extreme care in the south or anywhere when they’re using fire to ensure that either you don’t do it or, if for some reason you have to, that you take extreme caution.”
The three fires that pose the most significant threat to communities are in the province’s northeast in the vicinity of Pelican Narrows. The nearest inferno is burning three kilometres north of the community and hasn’t edged significantly nearer in the last week.
More than 290 people, 20 helicopters and provincial air tankers are fighting the fires near Pelican Narrows, which is under a mandatory evacuation order.
Steve Roberts, executive director of wildfire management for the Ministry of Environment, said crews have been “very successful” in protecting homes and infrastructure threatened by the flames.
In addition to Pelican Narrows, evacuation orders are in place for the communities of Birch Portage and Jan Bay.
According to emergency social services spokeswoman Deanna Valentine, 2,457 people have been displaced because of fire. The majority are staying in hotels or with friends and family in Prince Albert, but hundreds have made the trek to Saskatoon.
By Tuesday afternoon, 499 evacuees were staying in Saskatoon hotels, 182 were staying with friends or family and 161 were at the Henk Ruys Soccer Centre.
Although children across the province head back to school this week, Ministry of Education spokeswoman Donna Johnson said there are no plans to send teachers to evacuation centres.