As the number of wildfires in Saskatchewan climbs, work continues to keep them from spreading, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA). As of 3 p.m. on Thursday, there are 72 active wildfires across the northern part of the province. Of those, eight are contained, nine are not contained, 46 are ongoing assessment, and nine are labeled as protecting values. In an update on Thursday, SPSA officials said over the last seven days, 15 fires were started or reported, with one fire declared out. To date, there have been 223 wildfires in the province, compared to 366 at this time last year. The five-year average to date is 266. To date, 113 fires have lightning confirmed as the cause. One of the fires that was caused by lightning is the Egg Lake fire, which is sitting at 37 hectares, 21.6 kilometres away from La Ronge to the southwest, according to Bryan Chartrand, executive director of land operations for the SPSA. “Last reports are it’s looking good. The flame has been knocked down, there’s zero flames, so just some smoke’s kind of drifting ways, so we will need to mop those up,” he said. The largest fires include the Border fire, which accounts for 12,116 hectares and is not contained, the Costigan fire, which is 13,089 hectares and is labeled as protecting values, and the Kerslake fire, which is listed as not contained and covers 9,926 hectares. Chartrand said the Kerslake fire is fairly inactive, with crews on the ground making sure it doesn’t spread to the nearby community of Wollaston Lake. “We have been conducting backburn operations on the south and southwestern portions, securing it into natural barriers and burning off some islands and fingers … so we have deprived the fire of its fuels, and it is burning itself out,” he explained. “We do have staff on the ground securing those lines and making sure that it doesn’t breach containment.” Chartrand also spoke on the SEIR01 and Gulag fires, located to the east of the community of South End. The Gulag fire, which is 309 hectares and 11.5 kilometres from South End, is currently contained. The SEIR01 fire, which is about the same distance to South End, is sitting at 5,113 hectares in size. “We’ve been engaging in this southwest and western portion of the fire to slow down and suppress the progression towards South End,” Chartrand said. “We’ll continue to move along and secure that fire as resources are available.” The Fleming fire, which is 30 hectares in size and 17 kilometres away from South End, is a new fire which is also about half a kilometre away from Highway 905. “We do have aircraft and personnel actioning this fire as we speak, to get this contained and so it doesn’t get any larger than it is, especially with the upcoming weather,” Chartrand said. As of Thursday, there are no wildfire evacuation orders in place. There is only one fire ban in effect in Aylsham, just north of Tisdale. On Monday, the SPSA recorded 64 active wildfires in the province. While the number of wildfires in the province continues to increase, the total count is nowhere near what it was last year. “We’re sitting better than this time last year. Conditions aren’t as bad, but they are still pretty dry, and these fires are still presenting challenges for us, and just fortunately enough, we have been receiving reprieve here,” Chartrand said. “Conditions are a lot more favourable than the drought conditions we were experiencing last year.” As a special heat weather statement is issued for parts of the province, Chartrand said the higher humidity will help, but a mixture of wind would drive the fire. “Hot and humid conditions makes it a difficult environment to work in as well. It’s heavy lifting and rough terrain that our crews got to go through. So, it’s tough conditions, no matter which way you’re looking at it,” he said. “Humidity is nice, but if the temperatures and wind is there, it’s not going to make too much of a difference unfortunately.” The SPSA also provided a snapshot of the province’s flooding situation, with 12 active declarations of local emergency currently in place.
