s all of the province’s firefighting crews are actively engaged, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency says there is no capacity to take on additional fires, hence the fire ban issued Thursday morning.
The ban is for open-pit fires on Crown lands and provincial parks, provincial recreation sites and the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District. This includes fireworks. SPSA vice-president of operations Steve Roberts encourages other municipalities and communities to consider implementing fire bans, as well.
Roberts says there are 75 active wildfires, and only 12 of them are contained. To mitigate these fires, all fire crews assisting other provinces are being brought back to Saskatchewan, and a request for air tankers has been put out to national partners.
Roberts says the five-year average for wildfires is 211, but so far in 2024, we’ve already seen 307. He adds that despite a wet and cool June, the conditions in Saskatchewan’s forests are extremely volatile, dry, and the risk of ignition is high.
He explains that there are two wildfires that are garnering additional attention from firefighting crews.
The first is the Davis Fire located east of La Ronge.
“We also have another fire called the Wilson Fire east of Creighton…this fire is not contained. We have air tanker support, helicopter support, and crew on the fire. We are also receiving support from our partners in Manitoba with air tankers on this fire.”
Roberts advises the public to be cautious when doing other potential spark-generating summertime activities as well, such as riding ATVs.
The fire ban will remain in effect until the weather situation changes, or a number of the existing wildfires are able to be put out.