The number of fires in the province has gone up once again, according to the latest update on the province's wildfire situation from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA). In their release yesterday afternoon, the SPSA detailed that there are 64 active wildfires burning in the province as of 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, with 20 uncontained.
While some recent precipitation has helped out with containing a few fires, lightning from those systems also helped to start and spread other fires, with western Saskatchewan being particularly affected.
President of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency Marlo Pritchard says there have been continuing evacuations as fires continue to pop up.
"Approximately 45 individuals did evacuate, 18 are being supported by SPSA, while the remainder went to family and friends."
As the new fires and new evacuations took place, Pritchard says they've been making strides to make sure those people are supported.
"I am pleased to say that over $5.1 million has been transferred directly to residents or to the communities for distribution, and SPSA is actively distributing those checks to residents this week, and we will continue to expand that activity in the coming days into next week."
Steve Roberts, Vice President of Operations, says we're now around halfway through the wildfire season, with more hot and dry weather looking to continue to bolster the flames.
"We're officially at the halfway point. The first half has been fairly extreme. We would expect warmer and drier is what's predicted for July-August for the Canadian long-term weather pattern, which means that we will continue to have to manage these large fires, be ready proactively to deal with new fires that come up, and understand that they will be likely to be aggressive and large because of the weather pattern."
Values lost from all fires in the entire province, which includes homes, businesses, and more, have reached 2,129, with the majority coming from Denare Beach.