Over 2 dozen Saskatchewan communities evacuated as northern wildfires rage

Global News

3 days ago

Thousands of people have been affected by wildfires in Saskatchewan, ignited by hot, dry weather that has allowed flames to grow and threaten dozens of communities.
In an update Monday afternoon, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) said 16 fires are actively burning and the province has had 219 fires to date in 2025 — a significant jump from the five-year average of 131 wildfires.
Of the 16 wildfires, five have been contained and six are still out of control.
The fires have resulted in several road closures and Steve Roberts, the vice-president of operations for the SPSA, stressed those who do not absolutely need to be in wildfire-affected areas need to stay away.
He said the fire situation is dynamic and changing even hour by hour, explaining some roads that were open Monday morning were closed by by early afternoon.
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'Non-essential travel on any of these roads is not advised, so seriously consider if you do wish to travel, that there is a bona fide essential need,' Roberts said, adding the roads need to remain clear for emergency crews and supplies to get where they need to go.
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Because of the fire intensity and the weather conditions, a full fire ban and ATV ban across the entire northern part of Saskatchewan will remain in effect to ensure no more human-cause fires are started. The bans will remain until conditions improve.
'Looking at a potential for light showers maybe towards the end of the week, but we still have a number of days of extreme fire weather in front of us.'
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Click to share quote on Twitter: "Looking at a potential for light showers maybe towards the end of the week, but we still have a number of days of extreme fire weather in front of us."
Saskatchewan is receiving help from across Canada and the United States, but has not requested any aid from the Canadian Armed Forces.
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Roberts noted while the military can help with airlifting people to safety, troops are not extensively trained to fight fires.
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'They have limited exposure to it, so their ability to assist in that is limited and that's why we have not brought them in to date.'
Instead, he said highly-qualified fire crews have arrived from Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, along with the U.S. states of Alaska, Oregon and Arizona.
'We appreciate their support as we fight through these very busy times and try to protect people, roads, access and get these fires contained as best as we can until we see a turn in the weather.'
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Northeast Saskatchewan fire departments are also responding. Mike Kwasnica, chief of the Humboldt Fire Department, told SaskToday.ca, 'The Humboldt Fire Department is currently deploying groups of four firefighters at a time. Each group will do a four-day tour. We have committed to a minimum of 12 days to start.'
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Kwasnica said they have been in discussions with the SPSA for a while and were put on notice last week. At present, Kwasnica said they have been asked to protect structures within the Weyakwin area.
Across the province, 163 structures have been lost — both buildings such as homes, cottages, sheds and garages on private properties and provincial assets such as in Narrow Hills Provincial Park.
The province said an estimated 8,000 people have been displaced due to evacuations in 26 communities, parks and mines.
That said, the SPSA noted the number is in flux as some evacuees from earlier fires are able to return home, such as those from Canoe Lake who fled west to shelter in the Alberta community of Cold Lake last week.
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The province said it was scouring every community in Saskatchewan for possible space to house evacuees but said in the event more people have to flee their homes and there's no room, it's in talks with Alberta to take in evacuees if needed.
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'Obviously to the west makes more sense because Manitoba is also constrained,' Roberts said, where more than 17,000 people have been displaced in the past week, including all 5,000 residents of Flin Flon.
That wildfire is raging on both sides of the provincial border. On the Saskatchewan side, it's listed as 25,000 hectares, forcing Creighton and surrounding communities to be evacuated. SPSA said the fire is growing but to the north, away from the communities.
The largest wildfire in the province, the Shoe fire burning northeast of Prince Albert, was 407,000 hectares on Monday after growing over the past 24 hours. It led to several community evacuations and the closure of Narrow Hills Provincial Park.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said all of Confederation has come together to help out the three Prairie provinces.
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'Many others around this table are consistently reaching out to the three of us to offer resources,' he said. 'And for that, we're very grateful.'
Moe has said there will likely be many more evacuation orders over the next week.
Evacuation orders have been issued for many areas in the north, including:
Piprell Lake
Narrow Hills Provincial Park
East Trout Lake
Hall Lake
Brabant Lake
Lower Fishing Lake
Pelican Narrows
Whiteswan/Whelan Bay
Birch Portage First Nation
Sturgeon Weir
Deschambault Lake
Creighton/Denare Beach/Jan Lake
Weyakwin
Resort subdivision of Ramsey Bay
Northern hamlet of Timber Bay
Molanosa
Nemeiben Lake
Sucker River
Wadin Bay
English Bay
1:52
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— with files from Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press and Nicole Goldsworthy, SaskToday.ca