Wildfires force thousands from homes, destroy Sask. Public Safety Agency compound
Shoe fire has grown to more than 216,000 hectares
Thousands of residents and workers have been evacuated from at least a dozen communities and worksites in Saskatchewan as the province faces a "very aggressive" spring fire season.
Communities with evacuation orders are scattered from the northwest to the northeast, including Canoe Lake, Hall Lake and Pelican Narrows, which each have fires just a few kilometres away.
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Two fires that have been burning since early May north of Prince Albert — the Camp fire and Shoe fire — have now merged into the largest fire in the province. As they merged, they engulfed the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency fire base situated between them.
"We actually were required to evacuate the entire fire response team that was managing these fires," Steve Roberts, vice-president of operations for the SPSA, said in a Tuesday briefing.
Not only did 280 firefighting and support staff need to flee, but the compound also burned. Lost infrastructure included a kitchen, bunk house, equipment shack and truck.
That fire, which will now just be called the Shoe fire, has grown to more than 216,000 hectares.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 21 active fires were burning in the province and only five of them were classified as contained. That brings the total number of wildfires so far this year to 205, well above the five-year average of 124.
Canoe Lake evacuated
Leaders in Canoe Lake, in northwest Saskatchewan, decided to evacuate after a fire started very close to the community on Monday.
"We had a fire that started in Canoe Lake, Canoe Narrows, the main reserve, very close to town," said Daryl Wright, emergency response plan co-ordinator for Meadow Lake Tribal Council, which includes Canoe Lake.
"It crossed the highway and then it was about a kilometre away from town with winds blowing it toward town."
About 250 people have been moved to Cold Lake, Alta., and another 250 people to Lloydminster.
Canoe Lake is about 120 kilometres north of Meadow Lake.
Hall Lake threatened
A wildfire burning near Hall Lake, about 210 km north of Prince Albert, is threatening the community there.
An update given to community leaders on Monday said the Pisew wildfire had grown quickly. Parts of the sprawling community are under a mandatory evacuation, affecting about 380 people.
On Monday, a back burn was conducted to try to protect the community by eliminating nearby fuel sources.
"We're kind of worried about if this back burn will hold," said Lac La Ronge Indian Band Coun. Norman Ross, who's in Hall Lake. "Yesterday, people were starting to panic because of the smoke [from the back burn], but it was doing what it's supposed to do."
The SPSA is advising residents from Besnard Lake, Clam Lake, Trivet Lake and Morning Lake to avoid entering the area.
Pelican Narrows declares state of emergency
People living in Pelican Narrows, about 285 kilometres northeast of Prince Albert, Sask., are being told to leave the community immediately as a wildfire burns dangerously close to town and threatens road access.
"It's a single road that goes south to Hanson Lake Road. The fire itself, when the winds shift late tonight or early tomorrow, it's going to drive that fire toward the access road into Pelican Narrows," said Chief Peter Beatty of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, which includes Pelican Narrows.
Wildfires have been burning in the area for weeks, and hundreds of people have already been moved to centres in Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Flin Flon, Beatty said.
As the fire moved closer to the town of 4,000 residents Tuesday morning, the PBCN declared a state of emergency and issued a mandatory evacuation alert.
Beatty said approximately 2,000 people still in Pelican Narrows needed to leave immediately, either by bus or in their own vehicles.
'There's fire all over the place'
The road between Pelican Narrows and Sandy Bay, Highway 135, remains closed and people are being reminded not to use this route.
Highway 106, also known locally as the Hanson Lake Road, and several highways around Narrow Hills Provincial Park also remain closed due to wildfires.
Timothy Ballantyne was one of several people who boarded a bus with only a few possessions Monday as he watched the fire burn near his home in Pelican Narrows.
"It's so scary. My hometown is burning," Ballantyne said outside the Saskatoon Inn on Tuesday, where some evacuees are being housed.
"There's fire all over the place."
Mining, forestry affected
Some industries in northern Saskatchewan have needed to curtail or stop their operations due to fires burning nearby.
Roberts of the SPSA said in Tuesday's briefing that the timber industry follows a wildfire hazard protocol that determines what activities can take place based on the level of risk.
With some precipitation on the west side of the province a week and a half ago, that meant the hazard was low enough for some activities. But parts of the east side of the province haven't seen a reprieve from the hot, dry conditions, and companies "have been on shutdown for some time already," Roberts said.
Some mine sites have also evacuated personnel, including one that's threatened by the Wolf fire west of Denare Beach, where 600 workers have been evacuated.
Diligence required
The fire bans already in place in much of central and northern Saskatchewan have now been expanded to include the far north, all the way up to the northern border of the province.
"At this point in time, even though we have a large number of fires, [it's] important to note almost every single one of those fires was a human-caused fire start and could have been prevented," Roberts said.
When asked what kinds of activities have been leading to fires, Roberts listed things such as cleaning up around cabins by burning debris, driving ATVs over very dry grass, having camp fires in dry areas and operating equipment.
With conditions the way they are, it's taking "almost no effort" for a fire to start and then be "extremely aggressive, growing extremely fast," he said.
"By people being diligent and understanding the hazard and taking good proactive measures, many, many of these fires, including some of these bigger ones, may not have occurred in the first place," he said.
Up-to-date info on active fires, smoke and related topics is available at these sources:
With files from Hannah Spray