Saskatchewan’s wildfire situation shows no signs of letting up.
As of Thursday afternoon, there are 129 active wildfires, 25 of which are not contained. This is down from 132 active wildfires reported Wednesday evening.
“Fire risk remains high to extreme across the province,” said SPSA vice-president of operations, Steve Roberts. “We will see smoke and haze through most parts of the province because of the prevailing winds.”
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) provided an update Thursday morning saying there are still five fires of concern which are close to northern communities.
The largest reported fire of concern as of Thursday morning was located by Dillon, Sask., and is covering just over 23,000 hectares of land.
More than 400 people have been evacuated from those areas to Lloydminster, North Battleford, Meadow Lake and some are with family members.
SPSA sent out an emergency alert warning for the Whelan Bay area to be evacuated immediately on Thursday evening due to a fast moving wildfire in the area.
The Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) says 30-40 people from each community in the fire danger zones are prepared to evacuate if they have to in coming days.
Multiple highways are seeing closures as a result of fire activity: Highway 2 north, Highway 102, Highway 106, Highway 155, and Highway 904.
With temperatures expected to reach 37 C, the province-wide heat warning and fire ban will remain in place for an unknown period of time.
Air quality and visibility remain low in some northern areas of the province and are being monitored by the SPSA.
As of Thursday, there are around 150 more wildfires in 2021 than the five-year average.