Latest news with #EastTroutLake
CBC
a day ago
- Climate
- CBC
'We cannot slow down': wildfire efforts continue as cool temperatures and rain persist in northern Sask.
Cool temperatures and light rainfall has slowed down many of the wildfires burning in northern Saskatchewan and officials with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) said some residents may be able to return home in the coming days. However, firefighters continue to battle the flames and 24 wildfires are burning in the province. "We cannot slow down, and we're not going to slow down," said Marlo Pritchard, the agency's president and fire commissioner. As of Sunday afternoon, 33 communities have been evacuated. Weyakwin is the only community that has had their evacuation order lifted and that happened on Thursday. Meanwhile, overnight Saturday up to 24 millimetres of rain fell in parts of Saskatchewan, and with lower temperatures expected to continue, fire crews are looking to "take advantage of this small window of opportunity" while the fire intensity is lower, Pritchard said. The province has already hired some Type 3 firefighters, who are generally temporary workers with basic firefighting training, to assist in wildfire efforts. "I really want to call on community leaders, those community leaders that have Type 3 firefighters, to start getting names of those that have qualified," said Pritchard. Bryan Chartrand, SPSA executive director of land operations, said the growth of uncontained wildfires is beginning to ease. He noted the Shoe fire – which covers areas around East Trout Lake, Pipprell Lake and Lower Fishing Lake — received about 22 millimetres of rain and has not grown any further. It is just under 500,000 hectares in size. This comes days after nearby Candle Lake put a voluntary evacuation order into effect as fast-moving fires approached the community. The rainfall and continued firefighting efforts have dampened the fire, which is still about 10 kilometres west of the community. For now, Candle Lake authorities have said their community is out of danger. La Ronge, which is also nearby, had 24 millimetres of rain on Saturday, Chartrand said. Crews are observing hot spots and residents may be able to return in the coming days. "We continue to work and set up fire guards," Chartrand said, adding they want to make sure areas are protected in case there's more hot, dry weather and the fires pick up again. The province is hopeful the wildfire surrounding Pelican Narrows will soon be contained and that the community will be open for residents to return home. Chartrand said there haven't been any threatened areas for a number of days now. While many areas are beginning to see improvement, the Wolf fire affecting communities like Denare Beach and Creighton, is still a source of concern for the province. Temperatures have been lower in the area, but there has not been enough rainfall to decrease the intensity of the fire, he said. Crews remain in the community tending to hot spots and are actively working to repair the fibre optics affecting cellular service. The province has also said verification teams are expected to be deployed over the next couple of days to start "that challenging task and very sad task" of identifying what properties were lost due to the wildfires. Currently, the SPSA has confirmed 290 of the 400 so-called values, which refers to residents' lodges, equipment, boats, and trailers, have been reported as lost. There have been 254 wildfires in Saskatchewan so far this year, well above the five-year average of 143 for this date. The SPSA announced there have been no new human starts to fires. At the same time, the provincewide fire ban will remain in effect and be reassessed as weather conditions change. Financial assistance is being increased for wildfire evacuees in Saskatchewan, the province announced Saturday. In a SPSA news release earlier Saturday, the province said it is raising the daily amount provided to the head of each household to $40 per day, from $20. Additional members of a household will now get $20 per day, up from $10, the agency said, to a new daily maximum for evacuees of $200 per day.
CBC
7 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
Cabin owner documents 'haunting' destruction of East Trout Lake, Sask., by wildfire
Nathan Pitka says it was a difficult journey up to East Trout Lake, Sask., to see the absolute devastation to the townsite. He had seen the drone footage released by the province last week that showed an overhead view of the flattened cabins, but it didn't fully prepare him for what it was like on the ground. "What we saw was haunting," Pitka said in an interview on Tuesday. "We were at a loss of words to what we saw. The entire community had been devastated. There wasn't a single structure standing in the community." Poor internet connection? CBC Lite is our low-bandwidth website. Pitka's extended family had five cabins at East Trout Lake, about 150 kilometres north of Prince Albert. He had gone up there last month and planned to spend the summer there, like usual. But when the evacuation order from the resort subdivision came on May 21, he packed up and left. WATCH | First look at devastation for East Trout Lake property owners: RAW | First look at devastation for East Trout Lake property owners 55 minutes ago Duration 1:39 Some property owners whose cabins and homes at East Trout Lake were burnt by the Shoe fire got a first-hand look at the charred rubble. One week later, Pitka got the news that the Shoe fire had burned through. That fire is still the biggest one burning in the province, last measured at more than 400,000 hectares as of Tuesday morning. Pitka has been staying in Saskatoon. On Saturday, he travelled up to East Trout Lake to document the devastation for himself and the other cabin owners. He shared the footage from his dashcam with CBC News, showing the journey up past Candle Lake and through the forest. "We thought it was important for ourselves, but also to let others in the community see the extent of the damage and devastation," Pitka said. He described areas of scorched forest with nothing but stumps. The sky was dark with smoke and fires were still smouldering in the ditches. Piles of metal and concrete are all that's left of the cabins. He took photos of each site to share with other cabin owners, so others wouldn't have to make the journey. Pitka said he and his family are grieving the destruction at East Trout Lake, which is "more than a location" — it's been the gathering site for his family for nearly 50 years. "I think I'm speaking for a lot of the residents that are out there," he said. "These have been multi-generational cabins and used year-round for connecting with the land and escaping the stresses of life." His family is working on how they're going to stay connected this year, without their beloved gathering place. On Tuesday, Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) president Marlo Pritchard took a moment at the start of his daily briefing to acknowledge the "fear of the unknown" for those waiting to see what will happen to their homes, and the loss that others have already experienced. "I really want to acknowledge and give my thoughts and prayers to those that have been impacted directly, or indirectly, of these fires," Pritchard said. "There's a number of individuals that have lost property; we've had a number of individuals evacuated … that are sitting, waiting to hear whether their property has been impacted." On Monday, parts of the Northern Village of Denare Beach were consumed by the Wolf fire as it encroached on the community, near the Manitoba border in the province's northeast. La Ronge and surrounding communities were evacuated Monday as the Pisew fire approached from the north. Evacuees reported scary, long journeys south in convoys through flames and smoke from two other fires in the area — the Shoe and Ditch02 fires. About 8,000 people have been evacuated from northern Saskatchewan due to wildfires so far, according to the SPSA. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 21 wildfires burning in the province and the year-to-date total is 230, far above the five-year average of 132 fires for the same period.
CBC
28-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
'We are beyond devastated': Fire destroys dozens of cabins and homes at East Trout Lake, Sask.
Social Sharing For days Myra Froc has been scouring social media hoping for word that her beloved family cabin at East Trout lake had escaped the ravages of the Shoe wildfire. Froc got news on Wednesday afternoon. Her cabin was destroyed, burned to the ground along with dozens of others in the community. "We are beyond devastated," Froc said in an emailed statement to CBC. Froc received confirmation from the East Trout Lake Cabin Owners' Association that her cabin was destroyed. Aerial pictures released Wednesday by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) show Froc's beloved cabin and community burned to ash. "There was significant damage to both resorts. The fire was very intense in the town site and there is nothing left of our cabins," Froc said about the clusters of cabins at East Trout Lake. For nearly 60 years, Froc's family has spent summers in the clapboard cabin her father built on the shores of East Trout Lake in 1967. Three generations have gathered each summer at the cabin deep in the File Hills, about 150 kilometres north of Prince Albert, surrounded by black spruce and tamarack pine trees. "We're talking about potentially a whole townsite of 50 to 60 cabins, many of them affected. We just don't know how many and how many have been burned to the ground," Myra said from her home in Lumsden, prior to receiving confirmation that dozens of cabins in her community were destroyed. "This cabin is part of our heritage. It's been in our family for so many years." Froc and other community members had feared the worst. Security camera footage was circulating showing the fire moving toward cabins before the power went out and the feed went down at 3 p.m CST Tuesday. The footage released by the SPSA on Wednesday shows the charred remains of dozens of cabins along the shore of East Trout Lake. It's led the community to expect the worst. "It's like a death in the family to us. It's something that has just sort of vanished and it will take 50 or 60 years to grow forest again. It's gone in our lifetimes anyway. We won't see it again." East Trout Lake remains under an evacuation order. Froc said even if someone tried to drive in to survey the damage, the wooden bridge providing access to the lake and cabins was destroyed by fire. The SPSA said progress has been made in fighting the Shoe fire, but that "East Trout Lake has received substantial loss." East Trout Lake is one of several areas evacuated due to the out-of-control wildfire that's been moving through the province's northern forest, decimating buildings and trees as it grows. At last count, the Shoe fire covered 216,000 hectares. Outfitting business destroyed Darren Sochaski fears he has "lost everything" after wildfire burned through his outfitting business near Smeaton, Sask., about 70 kilometres northeast of Prince Albert. "You hear people saying they watched their dreams burn, and I literally did that. It was devastating," he told Ian Hanomansing on CBC News Network. "The force of the fire and how it moved so fast, I don't even have words for it." Sochaski tried to travel up to one of the camps to see if he could get stuff out before the fire got there, but he was too late. He said the "force of the fire" that he witnessed makes him believe there is nothing left. Sochaski questioned whether there are enough resources to fight fires, as more of them have started burning this week. "We don't have the resources in Saskatchewan to fight these fires all at once," he said. He's not the only one questioning the provincial response. Froc said her community feels forgotten. In a media briefing on Tuesday, Steve Roberts, vice-president of operations for the SPSA, said the province has deployed "all our resources." "Our provincial resources are indeed stretched and it is one of the reasons we have gone to our Canadian partners and our other mutual aid partners to get more resources," he said. Saskatchewan has made requests for crews, equipment and more aircraft. There is already a water bomber from Alaska and two more from Quebec working in the province Little Bear Lake still fighting to save buildings The fire is also closing in on Little Bear Lake, a resort community off the Hanson Lake Road about 165 kilometres north east of Prince Albert. Like East Trout Lake, it's under an evacuation order, but a handful of locals have stayed behind to work around the clock to keep sprinkler systems running, soaking all of the buildings and creating humidity to try and stave off the fire. "Last night we could see a massive fire taking out all of the forest that's all the way across the lake. Where there used to be forest … now it's just char," said Troy Scowen, owner of Little Bear Lake Resort. Scowen, one of the residents that stayed behind to help protect the buildings, said the fire has destroyed the community's garbage dump, which is about half a kilometre away from the resort at Little Bear. "We're kind of surrounded, but not to the north, the north is still pretty good," Scowen said. The SPSA said it plans to protect Moose Lodge at Little Bear Lake and noted the fire is only one kilometre from the west shore of the lake. Scowen said the fire is an extreme threat to the Little Bear community, but added the people who have stayed behind to protect buildings will leave if it becomes unsafe.
CBC
22-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
East Trout Lake under evacuation order as fire threatens road access
The Saskatchewan government issued an evacuation order on Wednesday for the East Trout Lake resort area, about 165 kilometres northeast of Prince Albert, due to the growing threat of wildfires burning to the south.
CBC
22-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Evacuation order issued for East Trout Lake, Sask., resort area amid wildfire threats
The Saskatchewan government issued an evacuation order on Wednesday for the East Trout Lake resort area, located approximately 165 kilometres northeast of Prince Albert, due to the growing threat of wildfires burning to the south. The order, effective immediately, follows rapid developments in the Camp and Show wildfires. A local state of emergency has also been declared and will remain in effect until at least May 28, 2025. Among those affected by the evacuation order is cabin owner Shari Pitka, who shared her experience leaving East Trout Lake for Prince Albert. "We got the evacuation order this morning at 11:30," Pitka said on the CBC's The 306 radio show. "It didn't seem too windy or too smoky, so it was very hard to tell where the fire was." Pitka said she noticed the smoke once she approached Clarence-Steepbank Provincial Park: "That was a little bit concerning." Pitka said nightly provincial wildfire updates have helped residents stay informed, so she knew the night before that an evacuation might be possible. "We really weren't too concerned about it until last night," Pitka said. "They had told us that the fire kind of took off on them, so that was a little bit concerning." Pitka, who has spent 30 summers at East Trout Lake with her extended family, said she quickly gathered essentials before leaving. Though only a handful of residents were present for the May long weekend, Pitka said everyone moved quickly once the evacuation order came down. "I think we all left right about the same time at 1:45. We all left and hit the road." Pitka expressed mixed emotions as she gets ready to go back to her home in Calgary. "A little sad, because I've been going up there for a really long time," Pitka said. "I hope everything's OK. We do have a lot of great family memories up there." She praised the province's proactive efforts to install sprinkler systems. "We have been really impressed with the province, that kind of puts our mind at ease a little bit." But she remains concerned that the wildfires could continue toward the direction of East Trout Lake. "From the look of the smoke on our exit, it looks like it's moving that way."
