There has been a large increase in active wildfires in the province over the last week.
As of 4:00 pm on Wednesday afternoon, there are 65 active wildfires in Saskatchewan.
Vice President of Operations with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) noted the weekend weather brought both rain and lightning.
“The storms that brought the cooler weather also brought significant lightning with them and as that area dried out, we have started to pick up more fires, particularly on the western path of the province.”
Roberts noted they have reached the halfway point of the wildfire season.
“The first half has been fairly extreme, we would expect to be warmer and drier, is what’s predicted for July, August for the Canadian long term weather pattern. Which means we have to continue to manage these large fires, be ready and proactive to deal with new fires that come up and understand that they will likely be aggressive and large because of the weather pattern.”
The most notable fire that developed over the weekend is Muskeg Fire north of La Plonge Indian Reserve in the community of Beauval. It’s over 8,000 hectares with Highways 918 and 165 closed due to the proximity of the fire, with evacuations in the Bear Creek Resort Subdivision, a Lac La Plonge subdivision and La Plonge First Nation.
The SPSA has brought in a pair of waterbombing aircraft from Quebec to assist with the new fires.
With files from Saskatoon Media Group