Northern Saskatchewan community forced to evacuate due to growing McCafe wildfire

Residents of a northern Saskatchewan community have been forced to leave because of a growing wildfire.

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency said Friday that the McCafe fire was less than 20 kilometres from Stanley Mission around midday.

The Lac La Ronge Indian Band emergency response team said on social media that the evacuation of the community began in the morning and people were told to pack enough for five days.

“The fire really moved in hot. It was unexpected. It was a scary situation,” said band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson.

“We let the community members know we were putting them on standby, then we met and we decided to do a general evacuation. We were fortunate the winds died down and the fire shifted away from the community.”

Cook-Searson said additional sprinkler systems have been installed and the ones already set up were activated to create more humidity.

In its public bulletin, the public safety agency said there were several crews fighting the fire, including helicopter and air tanker support teams.

It warned smoke could be heavy at times in the area, that Highway 915 might have periodic closures and that power lines along the road could be affected.

The McCafe fire remained uncontained and had grown to more than 110 square kilometres.

— With files from paNOW