Wind, wildfires force people in Sask. to flee from homes

Wildfires combined with hurricane-force winds created a dangerous and deadly situation in several communities across Saskatchewan as hundreds of people were forced to flee from their homes.

In a news conference Wednesday morning, Ray Unrau, deputy fire commissioner of operations for the province, confirmed there were casualties in the fire.

One man was killed in a car crash 10 kilometres south of Burstall during the wildfire. The exact cause of the crash is unclear. Two other men were seriously injured while helping to fight the fire and taken to a hospital in Alberta.

Unrau expressed condolences to the families on behalf of the province and emergency services.

The fire also destroyed one home, one barn and one shed in the Tompkins area.

As the wind picked up, areas under evacuation orders expanded to include about 1,200 people from the towns of Leader and Burstall. All evacuation orders were lifted by the province as of 10 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The first reports of wildfires began in the southwest of the province in the small town of Burstall and the R.M. of Deerfolks near the Alberta border on Tuesday afternoon.

All 300 people in the community were told to evacuate to nearby Leader. Not long after getting to Leader, the same evacuees were forced to move again due to the fire.

There are no reports of injuries, but Leader’s Bob Laing told 650 CKOM he had quite the drive through the wind from his home to shelter in Kindersley.

“I had to actually stop on the highway south of Eatonia because the wind was so strong. It wasn’t smoke, it was dirt blowing off fields and I couldn’t see the highway,” he said.

Jerry Jrzen, from the area around Leader, said being evacuated from his home made him feel for those displaced by recent wildfires in California and last year in Fort McMurray.

“You see all this and you never think it’s going to happen to us, it’s proof it can happen anywhere now,” he said.

Bob Laing from Leader says he took his two horses on the evacuation ride. Says there was fire all around town. #skfire #sask pic.twitter.com/jbfIcQmKu2

— Chris Vandenbreekel (@Vandecision) October 18, 2017

By Tuesday afternoon, there were 14 families in the evacuation centre in Kindersley ranging in age from two to 95 along with a few dogs and cats.

With the arrival of evacuees taxing available space in Kindersley, Jane Hayes opened her home up for those in need of shelter.

“It just hits home when you know people that had to move out of their houses and stuff. So I just want to help,” she said.

Ray & Shirley are 1st residents back to Leader, despite no evac order lift. They just got in the car & drove, didn't grab anything #skfire pic.twitter.com/bVdz56s37w

— Chris Vandenbreekel (@Vandecision) October 18, 2017

Jenny Hagen is from the Eatonia area, but spent the night in Kindersley because the wildfire looked like it was getting close. She went up in a plane with a pilot friend Wednesday morning.

“It’s crazy seeing the devastation in and around the Empress area. Structures are completely burned to the ground,” Hagen told 980 CJME in a phone interview.

Structures,cattle and a mass amount of area burned in SW #sask #wildfire this is empress area this morning fires still smouldering pic.twitter.com/zu4NySFYEx

— Jenny Hagan LostInSk (@LostInSk) October 18, 2017

Empress is right on the border north of Burstall and northwest of Leader. From the air, Hagen saw the path of the fire from the charred landscape that was still smouldering in some spots.

“Some farms were spared. It skirted just along the edge of them and other farms, the structures are completely gone in the yard,” Hagen said, adding she saw dead livestock in the fields.

In a news release, the province said fire departments were able to stop the blaze about 20 miles from Leader. Only one rural residence was impacted by the fire, as crews protected several other properties.

Farms north of Regina evacuated due to fire

980 CJME reporter Jessie Anton was calling people in the southwest Tuesday night before she found herself being evacuated from her family home a few hours later.

Anton lives about a half hour north of Regina near Zehner. Just after midnight, she was jolted awake and had to flee. She said her neighbour was banging on her window to warn them.

“They were banging on our front door and then they moved to my bedroom window after we didn’t answer and that’s when we noticed there was a massive grass fire,” she described.

When Anton’s family called 911, the operator told them to get out because there had been several reports of grassfires in the Zehner area. She had time to grab her laptop, a change of clothes and her dogs, but they couldn’t get the horses out.

Anton and her family were able to return home Wednesday morning and fortunately their property was not damaged and their neighbour’s farm was also fine.

Along with fires near Leader, Burstall and Zehner, there were also reports of wildfires near Bethune and another wildfire overnight in the Clavet area south of Saskatoon.

Aerial view of a farmyard north of the Village of Empress damaged in the wildfire Oct. 18 2017. (Jenny Hagen/Twitter)