The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency says fire breaks built near La Ronge after the 2015 wildfires did not work this time around.
The agency provided their update on the wildfire situation Thursday afternoon.
During the call, SPSA representative Steve Roberts was asked about a fire break for La Ronge like the one that was installed near the Resort Village of Candle Lake.
Roberts says, a fire break was in fact installed in La Ronge following the 2015 wildfires and was activated this year.
However, he says the behaviour of the fires this time around made the fire breaks insufficient.
“(Fire breaks) are primarily designed to do two things – stop ground fire from coming into the community and allowing a point of engagement for our agency and others to address the fire that’s coming into the town,” said Roberts. “That being said, if the fire is very volatile, moving very fast, pushed by high winds, (the fire breaks) will not be sufficient to stop some of those fires that are starting as a result of the wind driving fire and flame and and fire embers into the community.”
The Pisew fire would jump far into La Ronge earlier this week setting fire to the Robertson’s Trading Post and the Rona building centre.
In the meantime, Roberts says rain is needed to help battle the fires.
“We have not had significant rain in the areas that the fires are active,” said Roberts. “We had a little bit in the Far North on the Brabant Fire and even a small amount of rain has affected and moderated some of that fire behavior. So again, as we’ve said earlier, rain will be a big turning point for these fires.”
Premier Scott Moe also faced renewed calls to bring in the military from NDP Opposition Leader Carla Beck.
Beck says military, policing, and communication resources are available from Ottawa, but Premier Moe needs to request the assistance.
Beck believes the province cannot afford to leave any help off the table.
However, the government has said the biggest help they need right now is firefighting resources, which they say the military does not provide. The province has been receiving some of these resources from other provinces and some states.
Thursday also brought in a few more voluntary evacuations and pre-evacuation alerts.
People in the Resort Village of Candle Lake were asked to self-evacuate, while the RM of Paddockwood issued a pre-evacuation alert due to the nearby Shoe fire.
The latest from the SPSA says there are currently 24 wildfires in the province are active, around 400 buildings have been lost, and anywhere between 10-15 thousand people have been evacuated.