Another community in northern Saskatchewan is now under a complete evacuation order due to the growing danger of forest fires.
The priority residents of Canoe Narrows, part of the first Nation of Canoe Lake CREE located about 350 kilometers northwest of Saskatoon, were instructed to leave the community at 7 am on Wednesday at a Facebook post on Tuesday night by Michelle Morin, Coordinator of Emergency Management and Resident Management Response.
The Saskatchewan Public Security Agency (SPSA) expanded the order during the night to include all residents.
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This marks the second time that Canoe Narrows has had to evacuate this year due to forest fires.
Morin said the evacuees are being aimed at Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., Where the registration will take place in the Wingate and Hampton Inn hotels.
The neighboring Jans Bay remains under a complete evacuation order also due to the fire of the nearby path, which is burning south of both communities.
According to the SPSA, there were 49 active forest fires in the province from 2:30 PM CST Wednesday, with seven considered content.
Now there have been 372 forest fires in the province this year, well above the average of five years of 273 for this date.
“We are seeing new fires every day,” Spsa Steve Roberts Vice President of Operations said Wednesday at a media conference. “Some are caused by lightning, but unfortunately, others are caused by the human, abandoned fires or other activities that ignore the prohibition of fires.”
Help from the premises and abroad
The SPSA said that 40 Firefighters from Australia have arrived to support Saskatchewan’s forest fire response and another 40 of Mexico are expected at the end of this week. They join teams from all over Canada and the United States, including the help of Quebec, British Columbia, Alaska and several other states of the United States.
“We are deeply grateful to the provinces, territories, states and international partners who have shared their resources,” said Tim McLeod, Minister of Corrections, Surveillance and Public Security of Saskatchewan. “Your support in this challenging forest fire season demonstrates the importance of our strong associations between jurisdictional and the critical role they have to protect our communities.”
Roberts said that Canada has built associations with numerous countries over the years, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico.
“If Canadian resources are maximized and, as well as US resources, we can resort to those people, especially when their fire season is a different season than ours,” Roberts said.
The priority, said Roberts, is to continue investing in the training of local personnel to be able to fight in future forest fires.
“We have actually trained thousands of members of the local community to help us,” he said. “At this time we have only been able to recruit 154 of them to provide us with that assistance. Therefore, the training program and the awareness programs are underway.
“Training is not the barrier. It is making people present.”
Evacuation orders
The following Saskatchewan communities are under evacuation orders:
- Subdivision of the LAC Resort La Plonge.
- The reserve of the plonge.
- Northern Villa of Beaucal.
- Jans Bay.
- Canoe Lake Cree First Nation (including Canoe Narrows and Cole Bay).
- Patuanak & English River First Nation.
- Priority residents of Montreal Lake Cree Nation, Pinehouse and île-à-La-Crosse.
SPSA’s president and Fire Commissioner, Marlo Pritchard, said some 1,100 people from evacuated communities are far from their homes at this time. He said that there are also some Evacuedos de Manitoba that remain in the province.
“We continue to support those that are evacuated through food security controls and the $ 500 announced by the Saskatchewan government to minimize the impacts for those who return from the evacuation,” he said.
Waskesiu is still safe, but the fire monitored
Meanwhile, in the Prince Albert National Park, the officials closely monitor the Buhl fire, which has grown to 38,000 hectares, of which they are in the park. Although the place in the city of Waskesiu is not under immediate threat, Parks Canada issued a pre -emergence alert on Sunday.
Gregg Walker, commander of incidents for Parks Canada, said he hopes that the climatic conditions are hot and dry, but that the lowest expected winds in the next few days will help the efforts of fire extinguishing.
“There was limited growth in the fire during the night,” Walker said. “It is 31 kilometers from Waskesiu, so it does not represent a threat in the immediate sense.”
Walker confirmed that evacuation thresholds have been established in coordination with the SPSA. An alert would be activated if the fire reaches the McLennan River area and a complete evacuation order would be considered if it moves south of the Green River.
“It means we will make our decision based on the conditions at that time,” Walker said. “If you are interested in public safety, we will act early.”
Parks Canada confirmed to CBC that people with camp reservations in the park can receive a reimbursement without cancellation rates by calling the visitors center.
Updated information about active fires, smoke and related topics is available in these sources:
