Beauval, Sask., nearly surrounded as massive wildfire grows
Mayor says lightning-sparked wildfires merged into one massive, uncontrolled blaze near La Plonge Lake
The mayor of Beauval, Sask., says the village is nearly surrounded by wildfire, as the massive Muskeg fire continues to burn out of control on three sides of the northern community.
"This fire is all around La Plonge Lake and all the way into Beauval," Mayor Rick Laliberte said on Saturday. "It's not in control. We're defending Beauval and all the properties."
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Laliberte said multiple instances of lightning have caused wildfires across the region, including at South Bay, Dore Lake and near the community of Jans Bay.
"Well, those fires all became one. This is now Muskeg fire, and it goes all the way up to Lac Île-à-la-Crosse and towards Patuanak," he said.
Laliberte said the community is now surrounded, with flare-ups still occurring in the forest nearby.
"We're not knocking down this fire," he said. "And rain is the only way that we can beat it."
Laliberte said that conditions remain dangerous and unpredictable, especially with shifting winds.
"This is a relentless wind that we've been having and it's been changing direction. The fire moves east, the fire moves north, the fire moves south. It's just a moving fire. And that's how these fires all join."
The fire came close to Beauval last week, prompting a mandatory evacuation and a massive effort to protect the community.
"We woke up a giant somehow. That wind shifted at the right time to attack us and almost caught us off guard," Laliberte said.
Laliberte said hotspots continue to flare up in areas around the village, and firefighters from Quebec have been attacking the fire, working alongside bulldozer crews and helicopters dropping buckets of water from the air.
"It was a monster that came through, and it's tinder dry out there," he said.
As of Sunday afternoon, no homes had been lost in the community. Laliberte credited the work of firefighters and outside support for saving homes.
As of Sunday at 4:00 p.m CST, there were 57 wildfires burning across the province, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency. Just four were contained.
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