Things seem to be cooling off on the wildfire front.
Vice President of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency says following 5 mm to 20 mm of rainfall in the north, the fire ban has been rescinded as of Wednesday. Also, what once were the three most intense fires in the province, the Wolf, Shoe, and Ditch fires are now all considered contained. This means they aren’t expected to grow, but they aren’t necessarily out.
In other promising news, the external resources Saskatchewan was once dependent on are now being sent home. This includes the Australian firefighters that have been here for 4 ½ weeks, air tankers from Quebec, two heavy helicopters, and three helicopter support aircrafts from the Canadian Armed Forces. However, the SPSA is renewing its contingent of 300 CAF firefighters
The cool, wet weather has also relieved some pressures that crews were facing, and have been for quite some time.
“They’re tired. It’s been a long season. Some of them are having to return to school here shortly. We’re also seeing that some of them are on their fourth, fifth, sixth assignment, so they change in fire behavior is welcome.”
When reflecting back on the spring and summer, Roberts says from an impact perspective, this has been the worst wildfire season to date. He explains that at one point, 38 communities were evacuated at once, which is more than there were in 2015. Also, the fires were concentrated in the southern half of the forest, which also happens to be the most populated region.
“In past years, large fires may have only threatened one or two communities. Those same fires have obviously threatened many, many communities, and we’ve seen one of the largest losses of homes and structures in a number of years. That’s at Denare Beach and East Trout Lake.”
Cleanup of that site has been ongoing since July 23. Roberts says 100 of the 216 damaged lots have had debris removed so far. There are currently 79 wildfires burning in Saskatchewan, 14 of which are contained.