Smoke is in the air in the southeast and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency is giving an update on wildfires in the province.
As of 8:30 Friday morning, 73 active wildfires are ongoing in Saskatchewan. The provinces categorize eight of those as not contained, five as contained, 42 have an ongoing assessment, and 18 are protecting property. So far this year there have been 480 fires in the province.
Two fires in the province are impacting communities leading to some being evacuated as a precaution.
The FLANAGAN fire is currently burning less than 10km from the northern rural community of Sandy Bay. The SPSA is currently suppressing the fire and has been doing so since July 10. Despite both ground crews working on the blaze and aerial fire suppression, that fire is currently not contained.
Earlier this month on August 4 the fire rose in risk after it breached containment lines and started heading toward Sandy Bay and it's power station.
Additional resources have been deployed to the fire, says Corrections Policing and Public Safety Minister Paul Merriman.
"Wildfires have shocking and distressing impacts on residents including their health and safety. The SPSA is putting all available resources toward controlling and suppressing the FLANAGAN fire, which includes SPSA staff, Type 2 crews, helicopters, air tanker support, heavy equipment and fire suppression equipment. We will continue to work with our partners and community leaders to keep our residents safe and our communities strong and vibrant."
Also in the north, the LATE fire is burning less than 5km from the community of Turnor Lake. The ongoing efforts are a combination of work by the SPSA and the Meadow Lake Tribal Council to support the communities and their residents in the area.
The LATE fire started on July 10 and is not currently contained.
The SPSA says that despite the fires they have yet to lose any critical infrastructure due to wildfires.