Reservists join fire fight
Searing temperatures and low humidity are expected to stoke the already volatile Saskatchewan wildfire situation during the weekend.
Officials don’t know when the thousands of displaced will be able to return home. Close to 50 communities have been partially or fully evacuated and more than 475,000 hectares have burned.
There is immense pressure on local officials to allow evacuees to return home, said Duane McKay, commissioner of emergency management and fire safety. However, dramatic shifts in the weather make the situation unpredictable, which is why it’s critical evacuees do not return home before it is declared safe to do so, he said.
It is not only a threat to the individual, but also to the firefighters working in the area, he said. A premature return endangers the community because it may take resources off the front line.
McKay said there are numerous factors that will be considered before a community is deemed safe.
Additional resources deployed
More boots are set to hit the ground in northern Saskatchewan to help fight raging wildfires.
Approximately 60 Saskatchewan reservists will undergo an eighthour crash course in Saskatchewan firefighting protocol Saturday morning, Lieut.-Col. Tony Engelberts, commanding officer of the North Saskatchewan Regiment, said. They will then join the hundreds of others attempting to douse the flames and prevent further flare-ups. The crisis has provincial, national, international and military resources working together.
“Heading out is a sense of accomplishment, a sense you’re helping people and doing something meaningful,” Engelberts said.
He said the reservists have, unfortunately, become a little too familiar with domestic operations, or local missions, as disastrous fires and floods have occurred regularly during the past few years in Canada.
Damion Hamilton, whose unit will act as ground support to combat hot spots, has been with the reservists since 2010, although this is his first domestic operation.
“It’s going to be hot, hard work, but I get to help out my country and have some fun,” he said.
Fawn not ‘out of the woods’
David, a young fawn, is still fighting to live after suffering severe burns in a northern Saskatchewan wildfire close to a month ago.
The animal’s progress is determined day by day.
“He hasn’t lost his hoofs, but he’s lost some parts of his toes,” said Mark Dallyn, president and founder of Healing Haven Wildlife Rescue Inc. “He’s not out of the woods yet, it’s not for sure if he’ll come through.”
Dallyn said the rescuers have been able to manage the fawn’s pain, but they almost lost him once already in the first week of his recovery.
They took him to the Woodland Veterinary Clinic in Meadow Lake where they stabilized David’s dire situation.
Since then, David has been slowly on the road to recovery. He shares an indoor home with another orphaned deer.
Should David heal, he is expected to be released alongside his fellow fawn next May.
“They don’t have a mom to help them through the winter. When the green comes in the spring, we do a soft release. We open the door, and let them go.”
Healing Haven workers have been cautious about preventing David from imprinting on them, but Dallyn said David is a strongwilled little guy, and a bit skittish — which is a good thing.
David was found close to a month ago by a front line crew near the massive fire by La Loche. He was transported away from the blaze by helicopter and eventually brought to Healing Haven.