Saskatchewan fire crews made some headway in holding back a massive fire from Alberta that has now crept across the border in west Central Saskatchewan, not far from La Loche.
The weather is expected to help crews and clear the air in La Loche after weeks of choking smoke.
An update on Friday from Emergency Management indicates not much has changed in the last 24 hours, but what has changed has been for the better.
The fire threat has eased up a bit and the smoke has finally cleared in La Loche and several other communities, said emergency management and fire commissioner Duane McKay.
For the first time in a long time there was a clear sky Friday morning.
He says a command centre has been set up in La Loche and Buffalo Narrows, and that an emergency plan is in place should the need arise. McKay assures the public that plan can be activated in short order.
“We have refined our evacuation plans, our response plans,” he said. “Wildfire management is doing a good job of aggressively attacking the fire and containing them so we are going into the weekend looking really favourable.”
On the fire front, crews are making some progress, said executive director of Wildfire Management, Steve Roberts.
The eastern edge of the fire remains stable and crews are holding back a small but out-of-control fire near Cole Bay in the La Loche area.
“The weather is favourable for the fires, so it is pushing back both the smoke and the fires towards Alberta,” he said.
“In other words, it will create a clear area of burned material, it will allow us to engage right at the base of the fire allowing us to see it through the smoke.”
Local updates from La Loche’s mayor and council give further details, saying that fire – called the Duane Fire – is 25 hectares in size and that ground crews are close to containing that one.
The village office says they’ve asked the province to bring in portable air filtration units to the community, and plan to designate a location in the community to offer residents relief from the smoke.
La Loche is offering a pre-evacuation checklist that people can pick up at the village office. Also, the nearby Cree River Dene Nation started building fire guards on Thursday.
There are currently six wildfires in the province and two of them are out of control: one of them is the La Loche-area one near Cole Bay; the other is south of Isle a la Crosse.
People are being reminded to be extra fire-vigilant as they head out to provincial parks and campgrounds this weekend, paying particular attention to the wide number of fire bans and restrictions in provincial parks and campgrounds.
Here is a link to the latest list from the provincial environment department