The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency's (SPSA) latest update shows that they're now looking for help from national sources to deal with the ongoing wildfires.
The most recent update detailed that 56 active wildfires are burning in Saskatchewan, 14 of which are contained, 18 are under ongoing assessment, and firefighters are working to protect values in another 18. Four fires are considered contained.
Evacuations have grown, with an estimated 3,000 people evacuating from their homes due to the wildfire. Recent evacuation orders have included the Ramsey Bay and the Ramsey Bay campground areas, with the Buhl fire making progress towards those.
With fires continuing to rage, Saskatchewan made the decision to formally ask the federal government for help, with Canadian Service members now making the trek to help out with the wildfires. Vice President of Operations with the SPSA, Marlo Pritchard, talks about why they've suddenly decided to
"It really is about a situation that has now presented itself to us in regards to being able to safely deploy further type threes on fires that are having less activity, which allows us to stabilize the containment of those fires. And that is why the time is right for us to ask for federal assistance at this point in time."
The Type 3 firefighters are made up of qualified firefighters hired on an emergency basis, who support Type 1 and Type 2 crews working on sustained action wildfires. Commonly, Type 3s can be seen working on fires that are =under control or in the mop-up stage, or low in complexity and expected fire behaviour.
Pritchard says that of the 300 Canadian Service members making their way to the province, some of those would also work in command and support to help coordinate their actions.
"There will, of course, be a command group and support logistics group that will be made up of that 300. So I've been told it'll be about 270 to 280 personnel that would be available to work as type three firefighters."
So far this year, Saskatchewan has seen 392 wildfires in the province, with the five-year average at 319.