There was some improvement seen to the wildfire situation reported on Friday.
In a conference call with reporters, provincial officials confirmed that cooling weather and some rain had provided some relief to the ongoing situation.
Duane McKay, commissioner of emergency management/fire safety from the ministry of government relations, noted “significant improvement over the last several days.”
McKay said they were “hoping to continue to see that common direction.” He said the cooling temperatures and rain had “slowed down some of the significant fire growth.”
However, they did expect temperatures to rise again throughout the province on the weekend, and McKay said that “would move us into those high risk fire behaviors again.”
Fire bans continue to be in effect, and those looking to do controlled burns were encouraged to check with their municipalities first to see if a fire ban was in effect. McKay encouraged continued vigilance by the public.
As for the number of fires, Steve Roberts, executive director of the wildfire management branch, Saskatchewan Environment, he also reported that the cooler conditions and precipitation have allowed them to contain all but two of the fires going on in the province.
One of the fires still going is the David fire south of La Loche which is over 39,000 hectares. That is a fire that is shared with Alberta and numerous personnel including helicopters and air support are on that fire.
The Ridge fire southwest of Candle Lake is also not yet contained, estimated at 3100 hectares.
As of Friday, 17 active wildfires are reported. Overall, there have been 257 wildfires compared to 143 last year. Fifteen fires have burned over 100 hectares so far this year, and in the last two weeks alone there have been 137 new fire starts. Some 112 of the fires were man-caused.
There was one piece of very good news from the update, as improved conditions allowed for the five remaining people evacuated in the White Fox and Love area to be able to return home.
