Residents of Fond du Lac are back home — and with help from the weather, they should be able to stay.
About 240 people from the community were flown to Prince Albert on the weekend because of heavy smoke caused by fires on the south side of Lake Athabasca.
The province’s Emergency Management spokesperson, Duane McKay, says the task of flying the evacuees back home started around noon yesterday.
He says the process continued into the evening:
“I think the last flight left at just shortly after 8:00 last night. The operation went very well. The people are all back. We expect that the smoke conditions in the community will be quite stable for the next few weeks. Of course, we’ll be monitoring that situation on a day-to-day basis.”
Wildfire Management spokesperson Steve Roberts says the fire situation in the Fond du Lac area has stabilized:
“We continue to manage the fire — both indirectly and directly, depending on which side of the lake we’re on. There’s been no spot fires on the north side of the lake, on the community side. And we will work with emergency management to keep them updated on our wildfire situations, and the local community, as well.”
Provincial officials say the fire is believed to have been started by lightning the first week of July.
The hot dry weather caused the blaze to intensify last week and winds blew smoke into the community.