The wildfire situation has escalated to the point where the fires are now within three kilometres of La Ronge.
That is the word from officials at the daily media conference call on the situation Monday.
Colin King, deputy commissioner emergency management and fire safety, government relations, reported the situation was still critical and evacuations were still in place in all affected communities.
The last of the evacuees from La Ronge were evacuated Sunday as part of the general evacuation of that community. As well, the request for ground forces from the Canadian Armed Forces was well underway as of Monday.
Some 1,000 troops were expected to support Saskatchewan in fighting the fires and training for those troops was expected to take place, with approximately 600 receiving basic training as forest firefighters.
About 600 troops were expected to arrive Monday and the rest over the 24 hours afterwards.
Scott Wasylenchuk, provincial fire centre manager, told reporters there have been 574 fires to date, compared to 205 for the same period a year earlier. Monday, 112 fires were active, 56 fires were over 100 hectares and 25 were described as “not contained.”
As for whether the wildfires might enter the town of La Ronge, Wasylenchuk responded “we are fairly confident that it won’t happen today. But it really depends on how well we can adapt to the weather changes.”
As for where the evacuees have headed, approximately 13,000 have been displaced with about 8,000 evacuated from La Ronge over the weekend and another 5,000 evacuated earlier.
Karri Kempf, manager of information and emergency services, reported Monday that 323 were staying in North Battleford.
Those evacuees are mainly from the La Loche and Turner Lake areas and are staying in hotels in the city.
Of the other communities housing evacuees, 676 were registered in Cold Lake, Alta., 1,030 were in Regina, 2,332 in Saskatoon and 2,602 in Prince Albert.
The total number of individuals registered with Social Services is 7,059. There are also a significant number who have not registered with Social Services but are staying with friends and family.
