REGINA - The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency confirmed Thursday it will be receiving some, though not all, of the firefighting resources that were requested of the federal government.
In a media availability with reporters, SPSA President Marlo Pritchard has confirmed that the province will be receiving 300 Type 3 firefighters from the federal government to work on the wildfires, as well as helicopters to support transport and transportation of personnel.
Pritchard said they had also asked for water haulers and more value protection, but those will not be coming from the Feds at this time. Instead, Pritchard said those are assets that can be often obtained elsewhere and through other provinces.
The request for federal assistance was made Wednesday in a letter from Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Tim McLeod to the Federal Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience and Public Safety Eleanor Olszewski.
As for what prompted the request for federal resources at this time, Pritchard emphasized that “there's never been not a requirement or a need to use the federal assistance. It really is around right resources at the right time.”
He noted a number of weeks ago, the “fire activities were ranked four, five, and six, where we could not put individuals in the path of those flames.” He noted significant work by their Type One and Two firefighters, as well as some cooler weather had led to less fire activity and some containment.
Those improved conditions allowed them to deploy some Type Three firefighters, and they had gotten help from First Nations.
“We went to our First Nation partners as to supplement our resources through their Type Three trained individuals. We appear to have exhausted that list at this point in time, although we will continue to work with our First Nation partners to get more individuals. So it was really a number of factors.”
Pritchard explained what the additional Type 3 firefighter and helicopter support will mean for the Saskatchewan wildfire effort.
“At this point in the wildfire operation, the agency has an increased need for Type 3 firefighters. And in wildfire operations, Type 3 crews are hired on an as-needed basis, typically used on fire lines that are under control or have low fire activity, allowing for the repositioning of our Type 1 and Type 2s to areas of the fire to perform either initial attack or sustained action activities on either more active wildfires or on areas of that fire that are seeing increased activity. The SPSA has many trained Type 3 firefighters in the province. And prior to going to the federal assistance, we have worked with our First Nations partners and partnerships with PAGC (Prince Albert Grand Council) and others. And we currently have 182 Type 3 personnel working with SPSA at this point in time. But as there is an increased need, (and) as I said, we have now gone through and asked for federal assistance.“
As for when the 300 firefighters will arrive, Pritchard explained some of the timeline involved.
“We made the Federal assistance (request) yesterday. We have had an advanced group from the Canadian Armed Forces arrive today, and they are working with (VP of Operations) Steve (Roberts) and others in Prince Albert to understand the mission and logistics of where they should be deployed to. We have made a request of up to 300 personnel or 300 Type Three personnel. We understand that they will arrive between 36 and 48 hours, and they will be put on the line working with our staff in areas that are of low intensity so that we are able to move our Type One and Type Twos to other areas of fire, more active fire areas.”
Roberts noted that the intention is to “split up these resources from the Canadian military and focusing on a couple areas within the province so they will not all be collectively on just one fire.”
“We will move them and put them on a couple incidents to assist us, you know, as they get deployment, and that will be firmed up over the next 24 to 36 hours.”
When asked if there was disappointment from the SPSA that the request for federal help had not gone out sooner, Pritchard clarified that the “decision to ask for federal assistance is an SPSA decision.”
“The Sask Party party is not an operational decision maker, albeit that is some of the language that is out there. We have highly trained women and men that are trained in wildfire response. That decision, again, going back to the right resources at the right time.”
Pritchard also noted that back in June, when there were “rank four, rank five, rank six fires” as well as hot, dry, extremely windy conditions with fire spotting 500 meters and more, it was “not the time to even consider” putting Type 3 firefighters “anywhere near those fires.”
“They do not have the level of training. We focus on safety, safety of individuals.”
When asked about comments from Cumberland MLA Jordan McPhail on why it took so long to seek federal help, Pritchard responded “it is really unfortunate and it really is sad to see the divisive messaging that is going out right now in regards to, I guess I would use the term out of context or half-truths.
“… Again, it's about right resourcing at the right time. And we've always been in contact with the federal government to understand capacity and need, but it really is about a situation that has now presented it to us in regards to being able to safely deploy further type threes on fires that are having some less activity that allows us to stabilize the containment of those fires. And that is why the time is right for us to ask for federal assistance at this point in time.”
Response from Minister McLeod
A statement on behalf of Minister McLeod was issued this afternoon after the media briefing from the SPSA:
"Our province is in regular contact with the federal government to assess what resources can be provided. This approach has been consistent throughout this wildfire season. The federal government has the willingness to help, which we greatly appreciate, but the supplies and services they offer must align with Saskatchewan's needs before we can take advantage of the assistance. These needs are assessed by highly trained individuals at the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) that manage the operational decision-making of the province’s wildfire response efforts...
"... Minister Olszewski responded and approved a Request for Federal Assistance (RFA) from our government. They will be providing Saskatchewan with additional Type 3 firefighters to mitigate the wildfires, and helicopters to transport critical personnel.
"Type 3 firefighters are trained for the important purpose of mop up operations and used on fire lines that are under control. Having Type 3 firefighters ensures trained Type 1 and Type 2 firefighters can remain in their position for initial attack or sustained action activities on wildfires threatening our communities, infrastructure and resources. As the wildfires in the province become further contained, having Type 3 crews work on these fires gives Type 1 and Type 2 crews more capacity.
"Notably, we continue to receive vital resources including Type 1 and Type 2 firefighters and aerial supports from across Canada and internationally via mutual aid agreements."
Current fire statistics
Since the last update, SPSA has also received an additional 22 operations or Type 1 staff from New Brunswick. External resources now includes two CL415s from Quebec, 41 individuals from Mexico, 41 firefighters from Australia, 22 firefighters from Nova Scotia, 12 from Ontario in regards to an incident management team, and now 22 firefighters from New Brunswick. They also expect another 41 Type 1 firefighters from Quebec arriving either later today or sometime tomorrow.
As of 11 a.m, this morning, Saskatchewan had 56 active wildfires. Four were categorized as contained, 15 not contained, 19 ongoing assessment and 18 are listed as protecting values. To this point there have been 392 wildfires which is well above the five-year average of 319.
To this point in Saskatchewan, approximately 1.8 million hectares have burned so far. This is the combined impact to date, as not all of the fire is actively burning at the moment.
Seven communities are on full evacuation order and another four have evacuated P1 and P2 individuals that either have underlying health issues, elderly, very young or pregnant women to move them away from the smoky conditions. The communities with evacuation orders in place are Lac La Plonge, Beauval, Jans Bay, Little Amyot Lake, Patuanak - English River First Nation, and Canoe Lake.
Around 3,000 individuals that have evacuated throughout the province at this point in time; some of those are being supported by SPSA while others are being supported by Meadow Lake Tribal Council.
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