Premier tours wildfire sites

By Bryan Eneas for paNow.com

Premier Scott Moe visited the Provincial Wildfire Centre just north of Prince Albert before taking a tour of the region’s wildfires on Wednesday.

“Today’s a good day, I would say; the humidity is higher today, the winds are down a little bit and it looks like we might even get a squirt of rain, which ultimately, is the answer to any of these dry conditions that we have,” Moe said.

He said the fires are currently in hold mode, and crews are working to cut down fires to as small of an area as possible.

Moe, who’s from Shellbrook, said he has maintained contact with people in the area who’ve been affected by the fire.

“There’s a very concerted effort, that everyone is involved in,” Moe said. “This is our first significant event of this particular year and I think the effort is as effective as it can possibly be.”

The premier said the province has always set aside money to combat fires based on data gathered from the past few years. Moe said the resources necessary to fight fires will be in place throughout the fire season.

Moe noted agriculture producers like the R.M. of Shellbrook’s Reeve Doug Oleksyn have left their seeding duties in order to address bigger matters.

“Over the last couple of days, we’re dealing with two fires, so you’re just trying to gather as much information [as possible],” Oleksyn said. “We’re new to the SaskAlert system, so it’s a learning process and you put the call [out] to evacuate with the information that you have at the present.”

Oleksyn noted everyone from Crutwell has been able to find accommodation following two different evacuation alerts over the span of two days. One family required accommodation on May 15. In total, he estimated 10 to 12 families have checked in to the Red Cross registration centre in Shellbrook.