Latest news with #BuhlFire
Hamilton Spectator
7 days ago
- Climate
- Hamilton Spectator
Waskesiu still watching Buhl Fire closely after pre-evacuation alert
Conditions have been normal at the Waskesiu townsite this week after a wildfire and pre-evacuation alert was issued for Prince Albert National Park on Sunday. Waskesiu Community Council chair Jim Kerby Chair said on Friday that they are watching the Buhl Fire closely, but conditions been favourable. 'The townsite continues to have a good number of visitors,' Kerby said. 'It's been actually a pretty nice week up here all together. A little bit more smoke rolled in today, but the weather forecast is favourable to move it away from us for the weekend, and there may be some rain up near the fire area as well, so that's positive.' Kerby said the rain has stayed away for the most part, but in typical Saskatchewan fashion Elk Ridge got a downpour on Thursday evening and Waskesiu received virtually no precipitation. 'It's the hit and miss with thunderstorms as you understand,' Kerby said. 'We are certainly hoping to see some rain in the vicinity, especially on Sunday. While the townsite has had a good visitor numbers, Kerby said it's down from what they would normally expect in the middle of July. He said many of the hoteliers he spoke to on Thursday are fully booked. 'We continue to try and let people know that there's no threat to personal safety or property right now,' Kerby said. 'But, the situation needs to be carefully monitored and that's the way it is. 'I also think that our air quality here in Waskesiu has probably been no worse than in some cases.' Kerby said the Marina at Waskesiu posts a photo of the lake every morning and evening, so visitors thinking about making the trip can see conditions for themselves. 'You see from those photos that it's actually overall through the week been pretty good. It's a little smokier this week, but I can still see to the other side of the lake, so that means it's not terrible by any stretch,' he said. Kerby added that all of the community groups from the cottage owner, seasonal residents, Community Council and Chamber of Commerce are working together to make sure residents get information in a timely fashion. 'I think there's been considerable success there,' he said. The fire is being fought by a unified command between Parks Canada and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency who brief community leadership at 3:30 p.m. each day. 'They have also been providing a daily written bulletin and we are all going out of the way as organisations here to make sure that that's promptly on social media, promptly circulated just to keep everybody posted on what's happening in terms of fighting the fire and its progress,' he said. 'I'm very impressed with the team that's been brought together here.' SPSA Vice-President Steve Roberts said in a virtual press conference on Friday exactly what a unified command is. 'All of our senior staff that are working on that fire are now working alongside the senior staff from Parks Canada,' Roberts said. 'That means all of the management is reaching planning, the assessments, the resourcing gets coordinated so we don't get in each other's way.' He added that they try not to be on cross-purposes and have the same strategic objective for managing the Buhl Fire. He gave the example of it being cross jurisdiction like if they were fighting a fire with Alberta on the border. 'It just happens that Parks Canada is a different jurisdiction where they have their own authority. We have our own authority on our side, but we've agreed to work cooperatively together to make sure we get the best overall impact in this,' Roberts said. Kerby said that he is thankful for the professionalism exhibited by both the SPSA and Parks Canada. 'It's been really something to admire and done it under fairly intense conditions where you have to move very quick. I'm very impressed by the both the work they are doing and the efforts they have made at communication,' he said. According to an update on the Buhl Fire from Parks Canada, the fire remains 35 kilometers from the Waskesiu townsite. The Buhl Fire's first identified was caused by a lightning strike. It has since burned roughly 42,615 hectares – 8,470 hectares within park boundaries and 34,146 hectares on provincial Crown land. Current resources assigned to the incident include 96 personnel, eight helicopters, and 12 pieces of heavy equipment. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
CTV News
16-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Parks Canada provides update on wildfire in Prince Albert National Park
Trees burned by wildfires in northern Manitoba are shown during a helicopter tour in the surrounding area of Flin Flon, Man. on Thursday, June 12, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Deal-Pool Officials with Parks Canada gave more insight into the battle against the Buhl Fire, which is now burning inside Prince Albert National Park. The wildfire is estimated to cover 33,917 hectares – 6,262 hectares of which are within the park's boundaries. As of Tuesday evening, the fire is 31 kilometres from the townsite of Waskesiu. On Sunday, a pre-evacuation alert was issued for those inside Prince Albert National Park and the townsite of Waskesiu. Residents are not required to leave the area at this time – but are encouraged to be ready for an evacuation at short notice. 'This is a very difficult decision to make, and yet we feel it's prudent, just out of caution and abundance of caution for public safety, to alert people that it's possible that there could be an evacuation alert,' explained Gregg Walker, an incident commander with Parks Canada. 'We want to give people as much time as possible to evacuate should that become necessary and so evacuations are complicated and can take some time and we want to make sure people aren't under a great deal of duress while doing it.' According to Walker, the team managing the fire consists of 29 personnel, three helicopters, in addition to other heavy equipment. The majority of work being carried out is aimed at limiting the fire's spread southward. Cat lines north and south of the MacLennan River as well as north of Crean Lake are planned. Additionally, more cat lines are planned for Ramsay Bay and Montreal Lake Cree Nation. While the coming days don't look especially windy at the moment – Walker says that conditions are not expected to improve either. There is no distance threshold established for when an evacuation order will be called for communities in the area – like Waskesiu. Those decisions will be dependent on analysis of the fire's behaviour. 'We are currently planning some thresholds for when we would go to an evacuation alert and when we might move to an evacuation order and those come through analysis of fire behavior and weather and meteorology, through some specialists we have working on that,' he added. As of Tuesday evening, there are 48 active wildfires and eight active evacuations.
Hamilton Spectator
15-07-2025
- Climate
- Hamilton Spectator
Pre-evacuation alert issued for Waskesiu
From Prince Albert to Saskatoon smoke filled the air on Sunday evening as a wildfire has begun to encroach on the Prince Albert National Park and the Waskesiu townsite. Just after 6 p.m. on Sunday, Parks Canada issued a Wildfire Advisory for Prince Albert National Park. According to the alert, the Buhl Wildfire is currently 40 km from the townsite of Waskesiu. Waskesiu Community Council chair Jim Kerby Chair said on Monday they are watching the situation closely, but conditions have improved. 'We have had a change in the smoke conditions over the last 24 hours this morning,' Kerby said. 'It was actually kind of blue skies here. At the moment. I'd say that I can see about halfway across the lake. There's certainly a fair bit of smoke in the air. 'I check and I see that the conditions are probably as bad in Saskatoon as they as they are here or worse,' he added. The alert warned of a deteriorating situation on Sunday evening. 'The Buhl Wildfire has potential to cause emergency situations for the public, including deteriorating air quality and or visibility due to wildfire smoke,' the alert read. This comes after a fire ban was announced earlier Sunday morning. Residents and visitors in the area were asked to prepare and be ready to evacuate. It also advised anyone who is able to leave the area to do so and asked the public to avoid travel to the area. Kerby said the fire is still at the north east corner of the park and still about 35 to 40 kilometers away. 'At the moment there is no actual threat to life or property, but the town site has been put on a pre-evacuation notice and we basically are trying to make sure that people are aware of the situation and doing everything we can to make sure we got good communications,' Kerby said. He also said there was a community meeting on Sunday where residents were advised that the Buhl Fire had entered the top portion of the park. 'We are expecting another update to come from Parks Canada Agency sometime today (Monday),' Kerby said. 'We are trying to make sure that people sign up for the application on their Smartphones so and also we're posting information and links to that on the website.' Kerby said all of the community groups from the cottage owner, seasonal residents, Community Council and Chamber of Commerce are working together to make sure residents get information in a timely fashion. For example, the marina sent an email that shared the latest information on the Buhl Fire. 'While there is no immediate threat to public safety, the fire remains active approximately 40 km north of the Waskesiu townsite, and heavy smoke is expected in the coming days, which may affect air quality and visibility for residents, visitors, and staff,' the email read. The email also included updates on the area closure including Crean Lake, Kingsmere Wilderness Area, Heart Lakes, including the Hanging Hearts Marina, and surrounding regions. This closure was to ensure public safety and allow for emergency operations. It also updated on the Fire Ban and pre-evacuation alert. He said that the groups are trying their best to let everyone know about the situation. 'I don't sense panic because I don't think that would be appropriate at the time,' Kerby said. 'The bigger concern here as of yesterday and today was for infants, people that have breathing issues, that sort of thing. They've always got to be careful with smoke. That was the primary message. The secondary one is just it's time to be prepared if something did happen where we had to evacuate the town site. We hope that's not the case, (but) if it does happen, have things ready so that you can pack them up and off you go.' Kerby said everything appeared relatively normal on the townsite. He was downtown a number of times and said people are still using the recreation areas and playing golf. 'I just think a lot of the Saskatchewan people this year in particular have had to live through smoky situations and it's just something where you have got to pay attention to what's going on,' he said. 'We're very thankful for the extra assistance that's already been provided to Parks Canada. There's at least 20 members that have been brought in from outside the park as part of Parks Canada agency to work on this situation and help keep the people informed and safe.' He was also keenly aware of what a difficult wildfire season this has already been. 'We know that the Saskatchewan government is working hard too to deal with a lot of situations that are going on. We're just one of many, but this clearly is getting attention, and I think it is available to us to get good information in a timely way and I think we're fortunate in that respect,' Kerby said. The Buhl Fire is currently listed as not contained. It began on June 30 west of Weyakwin and listed at 35,000 hectares. The affected communities are Weyakwin, Resort subdivision of Ramsey Bay and Prince Albert National Park. The fire has led to the closure of Highway 916. SUBHEADLINE: 55 active wildfires in province as of Monday According to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) As of 11:00 am on Monday, July 14, there are 55 active wildfires in Saskatchewan. Of those active fires, four are categorized as contained, 12 are not contained, 21 are ongoing assessment and 18 are listed as protecting values. This year, Saskatchewan has had 369 wildfires, which is above the five-year average of 260 to date. Eight communities are currently under an evacuation order, these included the Resort Subdivision of Lac La Plonge, La Plonge Reserve, Northern Village of Beauval, Jans Bay, as well as priority individuals from Patuanak/English River First Nation, Montreal Lake Cree Nation, Northern Village of Pinehouse and Canoe Lake Cree First Nation. Effective July 13 the community of Kinoosao is no longer under an evacuation order and will be repatriating on Monday. There are approximately 1,700 evacuees in the province at this time, 1,200 of which are supported by the SPSA in hotels or staying with friends and family. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
