Sarah Mills: Early wildfire season raises questions about prevention
Wildfires have forced thousands of people in Saskatchewan to leave their homes, and the summer hasn't even started yet. ...
Frustration is growing among those evacuated from their homes due to northern wildfires.
Weldon McCallum is the emergency evacuation coordinator for the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation working with the Canadian Red Cross and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA), but he says processing times to receive services from the Red Cross have been lengthy and some evacuees who were placed in hotels in Prince Albert and Saskatoon are being displaced once again.
“There were some scheduled events in the city and rooms secured with credit cards at the hotels, so evacuees in these hotels are being asked to check out because those rooms are booked by another person,” said McCallum.
In Prince Albert, an annual softball tournament is expected to bring in more than 20 teams from across the province. A spokesperson for the tournament said plans were going ahead despite air quality affected by wildfire smoke.
McCallum estimated they had lost at least 70 hotels rooms for evacuees, who by mid afternoon Friday, still didn’t know where they’d end up.
When asked what the plan was for those evacuees, in a written response the Canadian Red Cross said, “Our teams are working diligently to provide emergency accommodations for those impacted by evacuations. Out of respect for those affected, we do not disclose the locations where evacuees are being housed.”
Search and Rescue Saskatchewan Association of Volunteers was requested to assist the @redcrosscanada due to fire evacuations this week in Saskatoon.
Coordinating through AHJs SARSAV tasked @SaskatoonSAR to help set up refuge for fire evacuees at the @CosmoCivicCentre. pic.twitter.com/tz4Z3BLHBB
— SARSAV (@SearchNRescueSK) May 29, 2025
Scott Roberts with the SPSA said the agency isn’t managing all the evacuees in the province. Some are managed, for example, through their tribal councils. However, he said its not uncommon for evacuees to be moved.
“I need rooms for those air tanker pilots that are here fighting those fires. They need a place to sleep, and it may mean that an evacuee has to be moved to a different hotel or from PA to Saskatoon so these pilots can sleep at night. So, there are some other pressures and dynamics there.”
The Prince Albert Exhibition Centre, which is serving as the hub of operations for evacuee services, has not been set up with any beds as a temporary shelter. Prince Albert’s Deputy Fire Chief Alex Paul said the city has not been engaged to provide a facility for evacuees.
“Evacuation supports, including the use of city facilities for evacuees, are provided upon request by coordinating agencies. As the wildfires progress and the situation evolves, the city remains available to support the Red Cross and other agencies in the event city services are required,” Paul said.
In Saskatoon, the Cosmo Civic Centre has cots in place for a shared shelter, however, Roberts said that type of set up is a last resort.
“It is not a great environment. Yes, it may work, but it is not great. It’s not an easy thing to set up and it’s not an easy thing to manage for an evacuee who is already under stress,” he said. “It’s not an easy way to wait to find out if you can return home.”
Premier Scott Moe met with First Nations leaders in Prince Albert Thursday. (Scott Moe/Facebook)
Moe says the province has more capacity
Premier Scott Moe said on Thursday that managing evacuees will remain a challenge as fires continue to grow.
“Using hotels like we are and those are filling up, likely in the days ahead – and this our fear and why we’re here today – is we think in two and four and six days, we’re going to be in a more challenging situation than we are today,” he said.
Moe said that the province does have the capacity to shelter more people if needed and has done so in the past.
“We had 15,000 or 17,000 evacuees that we had to support, and I remember some of the emergency shelters we had here in Prince Albert and Saskatoon. We’re not at that level yet today, but as we look ahead through the next number of days, we have to use all of the supports that we have to support our residents.”
In the first three weeks of July 2015, Saskatchewan evacuated more than 13,000 people from 54 communities in the north. More than 720 wildfires burned about 1.8 million hectares of land. That year, up to 1,500 members of the Canadian Armed Forces were sent to La Ronge to help.
(Submitted)
Spaces being volunteered
Despite the frustration with the Red Cross in particular, McCallum said the emergency services coordinators are grateful for the help they’ve received elsewhere.
Some communities are stepping up and offering space for those displaced by the wildfires. The Town of Hudson Bay offered their community centre for any evacuees fleeing Creighton and Flin Flon.
The Nipawin & District Regional Park has also posted that they have campsites available.
McCallum said numerous people and businesses have also been donating toys for kids, snacks and diapers.
“Athabasca Catering, Lake Country Co-op, SIGA, Lakeland Ford and Leon’s and local businesses like Tim Hortons, Firehouse Subs, Selena’s Donair, local agencies like PBCN Health Services, Education and Social Development and Peter Ballantyne Family Services. There are too many to thank,” said McCallum.
He encouraged evacuees to visit the hub of the emergency services in whatever community they land in to get set up with meals, rides, vouchers for laundry services, help setting up medical appointments or getting access to medication.
— by Susan McNeil
