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Four of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA)’s 10 listed air tankers aren’t flying.
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency’s president, Marlo Pritchard, said it’s because of required maintenance.
“From time to time, any of our aircraft will have mechanical issues that may ground them for a short period of time, from hours to days, and unfortunately, sometimes longer. This is a normal part of operating any air fleet,” Pritchard said.
Two of the planes are CL-215T water-scooping air tankers and the other two are Convair 580A land-based air tankers.
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While maintenance is normal, the inspections for the CL-215Ts came sooner than expected according to a provincial government release.
The brand new water bomber, a Conair Dash 8-Q400 AT Airtanker, couldn’t be flown because no pilots were qualified to fly it according to Public Safety Minister, Tim McLeod (Simon Austin, Facebook)
Pritchard anticipated that one of the planes, a CV580, would be available again by the end of June, but couldn’t provide timelines for the other three.
He said that a couple of the planes require structural maintenance, potentially putting them out for the season.
But, even with the four planes out of commission, Pritchard said that the SPSA strengthened the capacity of its regular fleet.
The agency brought in extra aircraft early in the season, with two planes coming from Quebec, two from Alaska, and five from BC, for a total of nine extra aircraft.
Pritchard said this hasn’t been kept a “secret issue.”
His comments come just days after the Saskatchewan NDP criticized Premier Scott Moe for his confusing statements on a brand new water bomber.
The plane, not included in the four undergoing maintenance, arrived to La Ronge on May 30 and hadn’t logged a single flight by June 16.
Active fires in the province on June 18, 2025. (Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency)
Trespassers on La Ronge airbase
In the same briefing, Pritchard spoke about a trespassing incident on the evening of June 16th.
According to Pritchard, a group of individuals were seen coming toward a gate at the SPSA air operations base in La Ronge, attempting to walk through a gate into the restricted area.
While the individuals left after staff stopped them, an advisory was sent out about the incident, asking people to respect the rules and not interfere with the work of emergency responders.
Pritchard said it’s about ensuring everyone’s safety.
“This is an active location where we move planes around, and we do not want to see anybody get injured,” Pritchard said.
Fire bans in the province on June 18 2025. (Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency)
Payments are top priority
Even with the four tankers receiving most of the attention, Pritchard said that providing financial supports remains the SPSA’s “top priority.”
The agency is continuing to “send retroactive food security support, such as payment for groceries, to those that have registered,” Pritchard said.
He said it could be as much as $200 per household, per day.
Pritchard also spoke about the $500 in direct aid promised by the province to each wildfire evacuee.
“There has been approximately $1.8 million moved to communities to start distributing to their community members for that,” Pritchard said.
Fires in Saskatchewan on June 18
As of 3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18, 18 active fires were burning in Saskatchewan.
Four of those blazes were not contained, with another seven under ongoing assessment and firefighters were protecting values in three. Four fires were considered contained.
Contained means suppression action is taking place and the fire is not expected to grow in size, ongoing assessment means the fire is being monitored regularly to assess risk to values in the area and not contained means suppression action is taking place but the fire is expected to grow in size, according to SPSA. Protecting values means a fire is active and action is focused on protecting things like cabins and infrastructure.
Even while the provincial fire ban has been lifted, 85 rural municipalities, 39 urban municipalities, and 27 provincial parks in the province still have active bans. The fire danger is low to moderate across most of Saskatchewan.
Fire risk in the province on June 18, 2025. (Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency)
Pritchard said that five communities remain under evacuation order, including Cumberland House, East Trout Lake, Denare Beach, Creighton and Whelan Bay.
SPSA Vice-President Steve Roberts anticipated that smaller communities will be able to go back sooner.
There have been 263 fires in Saskatchewan in 2025. The five-year average to date is 157.
