Emergency Management deputy commissioner Meika Cleary. Photo by Manfred Joehnck
There are 10 wildfires burning in Saskatchewan on Thursday and only one is listed as out of control, however the risk remains extreme.
So far this year there have been 114 fire and almost all of them have been caused by humans, said the executive director of Wildfire Management, Steve Roberts.
“So our concern is that our fires at this time of year, 112 out of 114 are human-caused fires,” he said. “So people’s activities are causing these fires, people need to be extremely diligent and cautious.”
According to the province’s Emergency Management branch, municipal fire departments in southern Saskatchewan were extremely busy on Wednesday, responding to 60 fire calls, most of them also started by people.
The branch is closely watching the situation here and is also reaching out to Alberta to provide assistance where it can.
So far there has been no formal request, however the Ministry of Social Services has already scoped out sites for evacuation centres, said Emergency Management deputy commissioner Meika Cleary.
“Those have been identified now and they will work to get those set up if the request comes in,” she said. “Those can be set up very quickly, all the supplies are ready to go and the volunteers are ready to go.”
Premier Brad Wall issued a statement on the Alberta fire situation on Thursday as well.
He says the province is providing air strikes to a new fire north of Fort McMurray. The airstrip in Buffalo Narrows has also been cleared for the use of Alberta fire crews.
Emergency management is also sending a team to Alberta to help out at the emergency operations centre.
The Alberta fires are also causing smoke concerns in Saskatchewan. Poor air quality warnings were issued for a number of communities in northwest Saskatchewan on Thursday as the huge pall of smoke from the Fort McMurray fires drift east.
Health department official Garnet Matchett says so far it has not been too bad, but cooler air that is moving in will drive the smoke closer to the ground. That could create greater health issues, especially for people with respiratory problems.