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The northern resort of Wadin Bay is the first Saskatchewan community to receive compensation for fighting a 2025 wildfire from a new government program.
Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) FireSmart Grant Program was announced last week by Minister of Community Safety Michael Weger.
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Wadin Bay will be given $40,000 for costs associated with its FireSmart mitigation practices.
During the height of last year’s wildfire season, 22 people in the small resort community approximately 30 kilometres north of the town of La Ronge decided to stay behind when residents were ordered to evacuate as the massive Pisew Fire headed towards their homes.
Wadin Bay is home to around 30 people, but in cottage season the population can spike upwards of 230.
Volunteer firefighters in the town battled the blaze for nine days and nights dealing with smoke, the elements, exhaustion and the monstrous blaze, which burned 220,066 hectares in northern Saskatchewan.
Despite the odds, those 22 people were able to save their community, only losing a single shed to the flames, but it cost Wadin Bay around $39,000 for that protection.
Robertson Trading in La Ronge was lost to the Pisew Fire during the 2025 Saskatchewan wildfire season. (Brian Sklar/Facebook)
Kennedy Bonneau, one of the residents who stayed to fight the fire, told 650 CKOM at the time it was an all-hands-on-deck situation, with people doing everything they could including setting up sprinkler systems to keep the flames at bay.
“We also had fire pumps, fire hoses, we had (people) maintaining our pumps,” she said. “Some people were just carrying around sacks of water to put out little hot spots.”
SPSA has said it also had firefighting crews working in the area.
The government says the FireSmart grant was a result of listening to feedback that no one knows their community better than the people who live there.
“Fire mitigation is critical in wildfire prevention, and we commend community leadership for taking action to reduce property damage caused by devastating wildfires.
“We also recognize many residents do not have the capacity or resources to do it alone, and we want them to know we are going to support them in protecting their communities,” said Weger.
An independent review looking into the Government of Saskatchewan’s response to the destructive 2025 wildfire season was released on Friday.
The review, completed by accounting firm MNP, found “significant gaps” in the province’s wildfire and emergency preparedness, as well as SPSA’s prevention and mitigation efforts.
When asked about the MNP review and the issues brought forward in it regarding the SPSA’s response, Dennis Renaud, one of the volunteer firefighters who came to the defence of Wadin Bay, said that he is hopeful it will bring change.
“Well, we haven’t had an opportunity to review the report in detail yet. What I hear is very favourable. Anytime that we can look at something like last year, where we had numerous issues, and can learn something from it and move forward is very positive. And what I hear today, I’m very pleased to hear,” he said.
(Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency/website)
Wildfires in Saskatchewan on June 14
There were 12 active fires burning in Saskatchewan on Sunday.
SPSA said in a 1 p.m. report that two of those blazes were not contained, while another five of the fires were under ongoing assessment and firefighters were protecting values in one. Two fires were considered contained and two were undergoing reclamation.
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 and reclamation is where wildfire-disturbed land is restored to support vegetation, prevent erosion and sustain healthy ecosystems.
As well, fire bans are active in eight urban municipalities, four rural municipalities and no provincial parks in the province, with the fire danger considered extreme in only small pockets across Saskatchewan.
SPSA says there have been 113 fires in Saskatchewan so far in 2026. At this time last year the province had seen 254 blazes. The five-year average to date for Saskatchewan wildfires is 188.
— with files from CKOM News
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