NORTH SASK.— After several days of progress in the wildfire fight in Saskatchewan there has been some deterioration seen in recent days.
According to the latest Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency statistics on Tuesday morning there are now two active wildfires classified as not contained. Those are the Trail fire west of Beauval at 66,000 hectares, and the Muskeg fire north of La Plonge Indian Reserve and Beauval at 345,175 hectares.
Nine fires are classified as contained, 32 ongoing assessment and four protecting values, for a total of 47 active fires. To date there have been 481 fires which is an increase from the five year average of 415.
SPSA reports that with respect to the Trail fire, crews will “utilize heavy equipment on the west side of Lac La Plonge using the Beauval Tower Road and start pushing south towards Dore Lake. Near Patuanak crews will move to a new location as the fire is holding fairly well.”
As for the Muskeg fire SPSA reports that crews “will continue to focus on the Canoe River subdivision area; pad crew will be inserted in spots just to the west to start cutting pads in order to move Type 2 Crews in to start extinguishing the line to the west. Crews will work on spots on south end near the Dube Lake area. Crews will also continue to work the Booth Bay dozer guard.”
While SPSA states on its website that it is responding to no active evacuations, the Northern Village of Ile-a-la-Crosse posted on Facebook on the weekend that fire is “continuing to move east towards Canoe River Subdivision. We are advising those in this area to vacate their properties for safety reasons.”
The Northern Village of Ile-a-la-Crosse also reported that the fire breached Highway 155 at Canoe River. They reported that Ile-a-la-Crosse Fire and Rescue were on location assisting SPSA with value protection.
They later reported on Facebook that the Ministry of Highways was dispatched to put up a roadblock near Canoe River Bridge. It was reported later that the roads were open, but people were asked to use caution around that bridge.
Ile-a-la-Crosse Fire and Rescue reported Sunday it had been a “busy night for our crew in Canoe River subdivision,” and thanked their crew members for “patrolling the area and putting out hot spots throughout the night.”
In addition to the flareup of fires, there has also been air quality alerts issued Tuesday including Buffalo Narrows and Peter Pond Lake as well as Green Lake. Much of western Saskatchewan was also seeing forest fire smoke conditions.
