A stroke of luck for the firefighters fighting against the wildfires up north over the weekend, as a bit of rain fell over the area. Those fires have been raging in more northern areas over the last month, with the drier conditions helping to spread the blaze.
On Sunday's public safety briefing, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Association's Executive Director of Land Operations, Bryan Chartrand, talked about what some areas received.
"24 millimetres of rain was reported in the community of La Ronge."
That also included 22 millimetres of rain over the Shoe fire, which is currently almost 500,000 hectares in size.
Marlo Pritchard, the President and Fire Commissioner with the SPSA, says that the rain was well-timed for the area.
"I will say that all of our fires received some rain over the past 24 hours. More rain fell on the west side, gradually tapering off to the east, and this rain was very, very much appreciated and needed. But we cannot slow down, and we're not going to slow down. This is a time where we can take advantage of this small window of opportunity."
Pritchard says that the province's firefighters will be using the advantage provided by the rain to get into areas that have lowered in intensity and try to extinguish some of the fires.
To that end, Pritchard says they're pushing for more qualified firefighters who can help out with their work.
"We already have hired some Type 3 firefighters to assist in these efforts, but I really want to call on community leaders, those community leaders that have Type 3 firefighters, to start getting names of those that have qualified, those that have been trained, so that when we reach out over the next number of days, that we can quickly access those trained firefighters."
The province detailed that there are currently 24 active wildfires in the province, with six of those currently not contained. There have been 255 wildfires to date compared to 174 in the same time frame last year.
Pritchard says they anticipate 400 values lost and have confirmed 290, which includes homes, trailers, boats, cabins, and lodges. Evacuees are estimated to be between 10 and 15 thousand strong.