The SPSA has moved into an offensive stance with the wildfire situation in northern Saskatchewan according to their update on Friday.
The situation continues to improve and people are beginning to return to their communities as repatriation efforts grow.
“We are in a stronger position today than we have been in previous days,” Premier Scott Moe said. “Much of that is due to the effort and the work of our firefighters on the ground, whether they be wildland firefighters or whether they be the local and municipal firefighters and volunteers from across the province that are in Saskatchewan communities essentially saving many northern communities as well.
“Thank you to all the firefighters, the wildland firefighters, through the SPSA, those from other provinces, but also our, our municipal fire departments that are the last line of defense for communities across the north and have literally saved our towns and have saved our communities and saved in many cases family homes in places like Creighton, Air Ronge and La Ronge,” Moe added. “Thank you so very much for your effort the last number of days.
“There has also been extra work that has been done by SaskPower, SaskTel, as well as many contractors alongside of those crews to ensure that we’re able to restore our communication and power service to communities as that is an essential before we are able to advise the community leadership, that it is safe to return.”
Moe was speaking during a joint press conference alongside SPSA President Marlo Pritchard and Minister Responsible for First Nations, Metis, and Northern Affairs Eric Schmalz.
As of Friday afternoon, Pritchard said, there are 20 active fires, four of which are contained, six are not contained, eight are under ongoing assessment and two are under the protected values classification. There have been 257 fires reported since the start of the season, well above the five-year average of 148.
Pritchard said that they have changed their methods over the past several days.
“We’ve shifted from a defensive approach to an offensive approach and to taking on these wildfires,” Pritchard said.
A big part of that is due to personnel. Pritchard said the province has hired 140 Type 3 firefighters to assist.
“We will be bringing on more in the coming weeks as identified to help us solidify the fire lines and do some mopping up and really stabilize the position moving forward,” Pritchard said. “Right now they’re focusing on hot spots and they’re trying to reduce the risk of flare ups and continuing to monitor perimeters on all of our fires.”
Pritchard said the majority of previously evacuated communities have begun repatriating or are already repatriated.
Schmalz said that he, Pritchard and Minister Tim McLeod have been visiting communities such as Creighton, Denare Beach, Pelican Narrows, Weyakwin and the Tri-Communities of La Ronge, Air Ronge and Lac La Ronge. They met with leadership of the communities and SPSA firefighters.
“I want to thank the frontline firefighters, volunteers, community members,” Schmalz said. “They all showed true heroism in their efforts to protect those communities. There were some losses, they could have been far worse had those people not been there and stepped forward.”
Schmalz said that they were inspired by the optimism people that they met with.
“They were people that we connected with previously and in some cases meeting for the first time under some very trying circumstances,” Schmalz said. “We appreciate their leadership and their efforts in repatriating their communities going forward.”
Schmalz also announced the lifting of the ATV and UTV ban as of 5 p.m. on Friday. The provincial fire ban will remain in place for the designated areas.
On Wednesday, the province announced emergency funds of $500 to those over the age of 18 who were displaced by the fires.
“Since the announcement, there has been a significant number of inquiries when these funds will be administered by their communities,” Schmalz said. “Minister McLeod and I have been speaking directly with community leaders about how these funds will be dispersed, and we understand that there’s some challenges for the local leadership to be able to do that effectively.” Schmalz said the SPSA will be working directly with the community leadership to support the disbursement of these funds to residents in whatever way the community chooses in order to reduce the burden on them and their administration.
“We thank the leaders of all the affected communities for their willingness to collaborate on how these supports are provided to the impacted families and individuals,” Schmalz said.
The Shoe Fire continues to be the largest fire in Saskatchewan. Chartrand said it’s sitting at 550,000 hectares. Closures of Highway 912 and 913 are still in place. There are intermittent closures of Highway 106 and 120.
Most communities affected by the fire have begun repatriating.
The Jaysmith Fire northeast of Missinipe is at 165,328 hectares and currently is under protecting values status. Brabant repatriated on June 12.
The Ditch Fire north of Weyakwin is approximately 174,000 hectares, Ramsey Bay, Timber Bay and Molanosa have been repatriated.
The Pisew Fire west of La Ronge is estimated at around 181,00 hectares. All communities are expected to be repatriated by June 15.
The Pelican Fire near Pelican Narrows is listed as around 34,000 hectares. Pelican Narrows has been evacuated with high priority people evacuated. Highway 135 is open to both Pelican Narrows and Sandy Bay.
The Wolf Fire (the name of the combined Wolf and Club fires) is 130,00 hectares in Saskatchewan and 135,490 combined with Manitoba.
Pritchard said that approximately 10,300 people have returned or are returning and the SPSA has 760 of their evacuees returned.
“I do want to clarify that some of the communities will be returning over a number of days,” he said. “It takes time to move that many people.
“SPSA has seen 760 of their evacuees returned and we do know that there are numerous self-evacuated (residents). They’re still staying with family and friends, so I can’t really tell you how many are still out from that that those that self-evacuated, but we are hearing stories that individuals that self-evacuated are starting to return on their own,”
He said that the SPSA will continue to work with the affected communities through the repatriation process.
“We also recognize that those returning will face some very unique challenges, (and) some mixed emotions. I just want to remind all the community members that are going home that that there are a number of organizations that can help with the mental health, the impacts of returning into a situation like this, whether you’ve lost property or friends have lost property you can access those mental health resources.”
When asked to compare evacuation to repatriation, Pritchard said they are both logistically challenging.
“I can tell you the repatriation from an SPSA perspective can be much more organized because it’s not under duress. We can do the timing properly and we can ensure that the buses and the logistics behind that to get individuals back into the communities are coordinated.”
Pritchard said there are 400 confirmed values—including cabins, residences, lodges and vehicles—that have been destroyed or damaged.
“Those activities to continue to verify properties burnt will continue over the coming weekend into next week and we know that that number will increase over the coming days,” Pritchard said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
