Government officials provided an update to reporters in a conference call Tuesday on the wildfire emergency situation in the central and west-central areas of the province.
Duane McKay, fire commissioner for the province, told reporters there has been a significant increase in fires, particularly human-caused ones, in the south of the province. The increase is noted in the central part of the province towards the western border.
The areas of concern stretch from Meadow Lake to the southern portion of the province. Those are seeing “extreme” fire conditions.
Significant activity has been seen in the North Battleford area on Mosquito and Red Pheasant areas. There has also been significant activity in the Saskatoon area in the last week.
Of most concern has been a rapidly-growing fire in the Biggar area a few kilometers outside the community that has been going on since about noon Monday.
McKay said “heavy winds, very dry conditions have caused the fire to grow very rapidly.” A lot of resources have been deployed to the area and an air tanker has been deployed. Smoke has impacted the community and there have been some evacuations. The long term care facility was evacuated there last night, McKay said.
Some have been moved to Saskatoon, others to Rosetown. The evacuations involve those acutely affected. There have been some air filtering systems deployed to the community centre, so people can go there to get away from the smoke.
“We strongly encourage people to not use fire in any way until conditions change with their municipalities,” said McKay, and to “take extreme caution” in any activities that might start a fire. Fire conditions in those areas “are extreme,” he said.
With the Red Pheasant and Mosquito area fires, there are “multiple fire starts.” The threat is “spread around” and the response to those is “primarily around carelessness,” McKay said.
“It puts at risk both the infrastructure as well as the community. Again, this comes down to understanding the extreme fire behaviour risks that are currently in place and we strongly encourage people not to use fire in any way, controlled or otherwise, until fire conditions change.”
A number of fire bans are in place around the province and a list of those can be found at saskatchewan.ca/fire. Both the city of North Battleford and the R.M. of North Battleford are among those under fire bans.
With respect to the Biggar fire, the investigation is not yet complete as they are still in an active mode. McKay said observation aircraft are being sent to the area to map the fire, and from those a point of origin will be located.
Three of the four flanks of the fire are classified as “contained.” There is one area they continue to be concerned about, which is being hampered by a change in wind conditions. This is also a wilderness area with cattle, and so they are trying to get the cattle out of the way as well.
A positive sign overnight is that smoke is now moving away from the town of Biggar. It is not moving towards the town as of Tuesday.
The footprint of the fire is approximately six miles, said McKay. There is no structural loss reported as of yet. McKay adds he is “unaware” of any injuries related to the fire.
A lot of resources are on site, including farmers with tillage equipment who can help with that aspect.
The northern areas are not impacted yet. Dennis Trueman, provincial fire centre manager in charge of wildfire operations with Ministry of Environment, noted there is still 20 per cent snow coverage in the bush and there have also been showers spread out across the north.
Five fires are currently listed throughout the province, Trueman said, four of which are contained and one of which is not contained. As conditions continue to warm up, hazards will continue to increase. Some aircraft should be ready Tuesday to assist in any fires that do pop up.
Deanna Balentine, provincial coordinator for emergency social services, reports emergency social services have been evacuated from the Biggar area. Biggar residents have been provided a number with the Canadian Red Cross for assistance of 888-953-3463.
The town of Perdue also has a reception centre at the community hall ready to go if it is needed. So far it has not, she said.
Doug Wakabayashi with the ministry of highways reports no highway restrictions at the moment related to fire activity. There were visibility issues noted on Highway 4 and Highway 51 near Biggar on Monday evening, and a section of Highway 3 closed between Prince Albert and Shellbrook yesterday. Those restrictions have all since been lifted.
