After a wildfire season that forced residents in more than 50 communities from their homes, burned nearly three million hectares, and brought in help from across Canada and beyond, Saskatchewan officials say they are entering 2026 more prepared.
But the clearest new detail to emerge form a Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency technical briefing in Prince Albert on Wednesday was about how the province is actually detecting fires. The briefing included remarks from Minister responsible for SPSA Micheal Weger and SPSA Vice-President Steve Roberts.
SPSA Vice President Steve Roberts said Saskatchewan currently has 42 wildfire detection towers, all equipped with cameras, but is not using the kind of AI-assisted smoke detection camera system that has drawn attention in other jurisdictions.
Asked how many wildfire detection towers are currently operational in Saskatchewan, Roberts said the province has 42.
“They’re operated, and they have cameras on all of them, and those are currently our detection staff. Just arrived this week to start their spring training and be prepared to start detecting wildfires from those towers using our camera detection system,” Roberts said.
A follow-up question pointed to camera systems in British Columbia that use artificial intelligence to help detect smoke.
Roberts said Saskatchewan’s current system uses a combination of software and human monitoring.
“So currently we are using a combination we have actual detection staff that monitor the images. However, the actual software behind the program does identify anomalies in the images and triggers those and cues our staff to assess those,” he said.
He said the cameras can flag something that may be smoke, but staff still have to verify whether it is an actual fire start.
“As the cameras pick up things that could be smoke through an algorithm, they will trigger that on the screen so that the operators will actually verify them, confirm or deny that they’re an actual fire start,” Roberts said.
Asked directly whether those were AI-assisted cameras, Roberts replied, “No.”
AI-assisted wildfire camera systems are a newer form of fire detection technology that can help spot possible smoke quickly over large areas and flag it for review. British Columbia has publicly moved in that direction, while Saskatchewan, a province that faces major wildfire risk each season, continues to rely on camera towers, software alerts, and human monitoring. Roberts’ said Saskatchewan’s current system has some automated image analysis, but not the AI-assisted camera approach now being used in B.C.
The briefing came as SPSA and the provincial government looked ahead to the 2026 season while reflecting on one of the most destructive wildfire years in recent memory.
Roberts said Saskatchewan recorded more than 500 wildfires in 2025. He said over 50 municipal and volunteer fire departments helped the agency, while support also came from almost every province and territory, along with U.S states, Mexico and Australia.
He also stressed that many wildfires are preventable. Roberts said about half of all fires in Saskatchewan are caused by people, not lightning or other natural sources.
“It is important to remember that while many areas may be susceptible to wildfire, fires don’t start without an ignition source,” Roberts said. “About half of all fires in this province are human-caused and are entirely preventable.”
That issue also came up when a query was raised about arson charges from last season. Roberts said those investigations had been turned over to the RCMP, and the police would be the ones to provide any further information.
This year, Roberts said conditions are better than they were at the same point in 2025 across much of the province’s forested north and central regions.
“Current moisture data is showing that conditions vary between regions, with the North and Central Saskatchewan seeing good snow recovery and over the winter and cooler temperatures,” he said. “In contrast, the Southwest experience extremely dry and warm weather, with worsening drought conditions and little to no snowpack.”
He said the province is expecting a more typical spring season than last year, but warned that wildfire severity later in the season will depend heavily on heat, wind, rain, and lightning.
Roberts also outlined several changes SPSA says it has made since last year. Among them are earlier seasonal hiring, and eighth long-term helicopter for initial attack, pre registered heavy equipment, formalized agreements to call in volunteer fire departments more easily an imporvements to evacuation processes and the evacuation app.
The agency also provided an update on its aircraft fleet. Roberts said Saskatchewan will again have four retardant tankers in service, including the Q400 air tanker added last year, along with six water-scooping aircraft and seven bird-dog aircraft, though some aircraft are brought online gradually through the season.
The aircraft update also drew follow-up questions, with queries seeking clarity on how many planes are in service now. Roberts said Saskatchewan still has four retardant tankers in the fleet, but only two are currently operating, while the other two are being brought online. He said the province’s water bombers are also phased in over the season rather than all deployed at once.
“So they’ve all been maintained, except two, and those two are currently underway. But they are not operational. They come on operational in waves. Again. We don’t bring them all on at the start of the season. We bring them on over time, and that allows us to ensure we have a fleet available at both the start and the end of the season,” Roberts said.
The minister responsible for SPSA, Michael Weger said the agency remains focused on “preparedness, coordination, and keeping people and communities safe.”
For a briefing billed as a look ahead to the coming season, the most striking takeaway was that Saskatchewan’s wildfire detection network remains rooted in camera towers, software alerts, and human review, not AI-assisted camera technology. The briefing also included updates on improved spring conditions in the north and central regions, persistent dryness in the southwest, aircraft readiness, and a series of preparedness changes SPSA says it has made since last year.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
