REGINA - Here is the latest update from Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency on the current wildfire situation in the province as of Friday, July 18.
Vice President of Operations Steve Roberts reported that there are 51 active fires. There have been 379 fires to date, way ahead of the five-year average is 289.
Roberts is reporting that their “general weather conditions remain hot and dry — these fires are continuing to move and we are getting new fires on a daily basis.”
It is the reason the provincial fire ban is in place for “all of the northern forests from the ag lands up north all the way to the Churchill River systems, and that is posted on our website.”
Roberts also reported on some of the additional resources that have come in. He pointed to crews and air tankers in Saskatchewan from Quebec, and the arrival of 40 Australians who have engaged in the Beauval area on some fires there.
Roberts said 40 firefighters from Mexico will arrive and be deployed tomorrow onto the fire line, and a command team that will be arriving late tonight from Ontario and be followed by crews from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in coming days.
Roberts also reports they also have been able to bring 167 type 3 firefighters from our northern local communities, and put them to work on the fire lines as well.
In speaking to reporters in the update call, Roberts said the additional help from crews from other provinces and from Australia from Mexico is welcome.
“Well, to be honest, we need more boots on the ground,” Roberts said. “We have a lot of fire on the landscape and to be honest our crews have been working for over six weeks now almost non-stop. So the more resources we can put to bear on these fires the better control we will have of them. It also allows our staff to get a little bit of reprieve. It's a stressful long hours harsh conditions in many cases sometimes around the clock. So having more resources is definitely a benefit.”
Regarding the fires of note:
The SHOE fire is 75 per cent contained, however it still impacts Highway 912 so there are closures on Highway 912.
The PISEW Fire by La Ronge is now listed at 90 per cent contained and there are no highway closures at this time.
The WOLF Fire by Denare Beach is also listed at 90 per cent contained with no road closures as a result of this fire at this time.
The DITCH Fire by Weyakwin is now listed at 75 per cent contained and there are also no road closures at this time.
The MUSKEG Fire in the Beauval area is not yet contained. There are highway closures on Highway 918 and Highway 165, and there is fire in the vicinity of Highway 155 at that junction.
The BULL Fire at the northern edge of Prince Albert National Park is not yet contained. That fire has resulted in the closure of Highway 916.
Finally the TRAIL Fire west of the MUSKEG Fire is also not contained and is impacting Highway 903 at this time.
Currently eight communities have evacuated some or all of their citizens, Roberts said. Four of those have evacuated health risk individuals and four have evacuated all non-essential personnel. About 1700 individuals currently evacuated from their communities and they are being supported by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, the Meadow Lake Tribal Council and some are staying with families and friends and receiving food support from the Public Safety Agency.
Recovery efforts also continue and the Recovery Task team continues efforts to provide financial support and planning guidance to communities that are in rebuilding.
When asked if any more communities could be evacuated close to the fire at Prince Albert National Park, Roberts said Montreal Lake already has evacuated their high- risk individuals couple days ago.
“Should the fire move northward there is a potential that Ramsey Bay would go back on notice, currently at this time that is not the case,” Roberts said “The only other community that we're currently aware of is the small community north of the Beauval Junction — Amyot Lake has issued a declaration of alert because of the fire in that proximity.”
As for what vacationers and those at Waskesiu Lake can expect, Roberts said they are working with Parks “and of course we're monitoring and actioning this fire on an ongoing over the last number of days.”
The last two days, he said, “our wind conditions have been very low. This fire has not moved significantly in any direction which is allowing crews to do some work around all edges of this fire. But at this point the only impact is to the one highway access that passes the northern part of the park.”
Regarding Hwy 155, Roberts said vehicles are being piloted through. Essential supplies can go through, but “it is not open to public access because of the risk, because we could have two crews working on the road or there could be fire and smoke across the road. So limiting travel unless it's essential.”
As for criticisms coming from Athabasca MLA Leroy Laliberte, who has called for the provincial government to seek federal assistance to fight the fires, Roberts responded by outlining what has been done to this point.
“We have been in discussion with our federal counterparts. Our minister (Tim) McLeod has sent a letter to his corresponding minister requesting some resources — specifically values protection resources from across the country to augment what we already have. A general increase if there's available helicopters that could be deployed and added to move crews around to do some work.
“In addition, we have asked and received permission to use a fire camp from Department of National Defence should we need it. At this time we've been able to support our camps with our own camp resources so that option is available should we require it. The offer of aerial support has not been required because all of our evacuations have been able to be facilitated through ground transport in a timely manner.”
