Saskatchewan authorities provide update on province’s wildfire situation

As of 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, Saskatchewan had 25 active wildfires — eight contained, six not contained.

The province has seen its five-year average doubled in fire starts in the month of May, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA)

The SPSA told media in a briefing Wednesday that it’s ensuring food and fuel remains accessible to northern communities via delivery trucks.

Brock Hunter has been stationed near Buffalo Narrows as a paramedic, for a week. He says the fire has been hard to predict.

“It’s actually quite erratic,” says Hunter. “Especially for this time of the year, a lot of the type one and type two firefighters out here are commenting how they haven’t seen so much fuel and such wild changes of wind in quite a long time.”

Photos shared with Global News, from Hunter, show how quickly the situation changed in just a three-hour window.

View image in full screen

View image in full screen

“You will hear on the radio, a helicopter pilot with a bucket of water visually looking for people,” says Hunter. “It’s on the fly, basically figuring out how to talk to each other.”

The SPSA emergency crisis support has provided evacuees with food, clothing and shelter. Currently, 113 people have been evacuated to Lloydminster from Dillon, St. Georges Hill and Michel Village, while 169 people from English River First Nation and Patuanak have been moved to North Battleford and 47 people from buffalo Narrows have been moved to Regina.

On Tuesday, the SPSA issued a fire ban for all provincial parks due to hot and dry conditions. With the long weekend only days away, worry for more fire startups is high.

“It’s easy to say that a large majority of the fires that were dealing with have been started by human cause,” said Bryan Chartrand, SPSA land operations executive director.

A toll-free wildfire inquiry line has been set up for information on fire bans and evacuations. It will be monitored from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.

The number is 1-855-559-5502.

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