Weekend wind forecast offers relief in Saskatchewan wildfire fight

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) confirmed on Thursday afternoon that there are 56 active wildfires in the province.

Of those 56 active wildfires, six are contained, 12 are not contained, 17 are protecting values like property, and 21 continue being assessed.

There are five communities that have evacuated because of the Muskeg fire, located in the northwest part of the province: the resort subdivision of Lac la Plonge, Lac la Plonge reserve, Beauval, Patuanak and English River First Nation.

Kinoosao, which is located near the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border is also evacuated because of the Otto fire.

In total, there are 930 people in Saskatchewan who are evacuated from their communities because of the wildfires.

Read more:

• Wildfires force evacuations of Garden Hill, Snow Lake in northern Manitoba
• Provincial fire ban starting Thursday, no ATV ban yet: SPSA
• ‘No evidence’ of fires forcing wildlife closer to cities: Sask. Wildlife Federation

Patuanak evacuation

On Wednesday afternoon, the community of Patuanak announced it would begin evacuating some people.

Those being evacuated have been taken on flights to Buffalo Narrows and then sent by bus to Lloydminster

“We have been in discussions with the community of English River and Patuanak prior to their decision. They make decisions on how they want to carry that out. The community chose to fly them to Buffalo narrows. At Buffalo Narrows, they were transferred to busses and moved to Lloydminster, where there’s adequate housing and services to support them,” said Steve Roberts, the vice president of operations for the SPSA.

Wind direction could help firefighters near Beauval and Patuanak

Although evacuation orders and a state of emergency was just issued for people living in Patuanak yesterday, there is some good news about the fire near that community and Beauval.

The SPSA suggests the weather over the weekend could help them get the growing blaze under control.“The closest point of the Muskeg fire to Beauval looks like 5.9 kilometres away to the north. This shouldn’t be taking any major runs towards community with the west winds,” explained Bryan Chartrand, the executive director of land operations for the SPSA. “It will slowly encroach southward on as it flanks, but it should continue to head eastward.”

The Muskeg fire that is threatening Beauval is still remains nearly 39.5 kilometres away from the community of Patuanak. The next closest fire to Patuanak is the Smith fire which is 28.5 kilometres from the town.

“For the next four days we have west winds. These fires will not be getting any closer to that community. On Monday, we actually have north winds which would be pushing it away from from that community as well,” Chartrand said.

He did mention though the north winds next week might not be good for Beauval, as it could drive the Muskeg fire north.

“Hopefully we have better containment by then – otherwise that’s going to be a threat to Beauval,” Chartrand added.