Another northern Saskatchewan community is now under a full evacuation order due to growing wildfire danger.
Priority residents of Canoe Narrows, part of the Canoe Lake Cree First Nation located about 350 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, were instructed to leave the community by 7 a.m. CST Wednesday in a Facebook post on Tuesday night by Michelle Morin, a resident and emergency management response co-ordinator.
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) expanded the order overnight to include all residents.
- Poor internet connection? CBC Lite is our low-bandwidth website.
This marks the second time Canoe Narrows has had to evacuate this year due to wildfires.
Morin said evacuees are being directed to Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., where registration will take place at the Wingate and Hampton Inn hotels.
Neighbouring Jans Bay remains under a full evacuation order as well due to the nearby Trail Fire, which is burning just south of both communities.
According to the SPSA, there were 49 active wildfires in the province as of 2:30 p.m. CST Wednesday, with seven considered contained.
There have now been 372 wildfires in the province this year — well above the five-year average of 273 for this date.
“We are seeing new fires every day,” SPSA vice president of operations Steve Roberts said in a media briefing on Wednesday. “Some are caused by lightning, but unfortunately, others are human-caused — from abandoned campfires or other activities ignoring the fire ban.”
Help from local and overseas
The SPSA said 40 firefighters from Australia have arrived to support Saskatchewan’s wildfire response and another 40 from Mexico are expected later this week. They join crews from across Canada and the United States, including help from Quebec, British Columbia, Alaska and several other U.S. states.
“We are deeply grateful to the provinces, territories, states and international partners who have shared their resources,” said Tim McLeod, Saskatchewan’s minister of corrections, policing and public safety. “Their support in this challenging wildfire season demonstrates the importance of our strong inter jurisdictional partnerships and the critical role they have in protecting our communities.”
Roberts said Canada has built partnerships with numerous countries over the years, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico.
“Should Canadian resources be maximized and as well as U.S. resources, we can call upon those individuals, especially when their fire season is a different season than ours,” Roberts said.
The priority, Roberts said, is to continue to invest in training local personnel to be able to fight in future wildfires.
“We have actually trained thousands of local community members to assist us,” he said. “We have at this time only been able to recruit 154 of those to actually provide that assistance to us. So the training program and awareness programs are well underway.
“The training is not the barrier. It’s getting individuals to come forward.”
Evacuation orders
The following Saskatchewan communities are under evacuation orders:
- Resort Subdivision of Lac La Plonge.
- La Plonge Reserve.
- Northern Village of Beauval.
- Jans Bay.
- Canoe Lake Cree First Nation (including Canoe Narrows and Cole Bay).
- Patuanak & English River First Nation.
- Priority residents from Montreal Lake Cree Nation, Pinehouse and Île-à-la-Crosse.
SPSA president and fire commissioner Marlo Pritchard said about 1,100 people from evacuated communities are away from their homes at this time. He said there are also some evacuees from Manitoba staying in the province.
“We continue to support those that are evacuated through food security checks and as well as the $500 that was announced by the Government of Saskatchewan to minimize the impacts for those that are returning from evacuation,” he said.
Waskesiu still safe, but fire monitored
Meanwhile, in Prince Albert National Park, officials are keeping a close eye on the Buhl Fire, which has grown to 38,000 hectares, about 7,000 of which are inside the park. Though the townsite of Waskesiu is not under immediate threat, Parks Canada issued a pre-emergency alert on Sunday.
Gregg Walker, incident commander for Parks Canada, said he expects weather conditions to be hot and dry, but that lower expected winds over the next few days will help firefighting efforts.
“There was limited growth on the fire overnight,” Walker said. “It’s 31 kilometres from Waskesiu, so it does not pose a threat in the immediate sense.”
Walker confirmed that evacuation thresholds have been established in co-ordination with the SPSA. An alert would be triggered if the fire reaches the McLennan River area and a full evacuation order would be considered if it moves south of the Green River.
“It means we’ll make our decision based on conditions at the time,” Walker said. “If it’s in the interest of public safety, we will act early.”
Parks Canada confirmed to CBC that people with camping reservations at the park can receive a refund with no cancellation fees by calling the visitor centre.
Up-to-date info on active fires, smoke and related topics is available at these sources: