PRINCE ALBERT - At the latest Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency update on the wildfire situation, officials pointed to the province being in a far better place than previously.
“We are in a stronger position today than we have been in previous days,” said Premier Scott Moe, who pointed to efforts of firefighters, community leaders and volunteers.
“The wildland firefighters through the SPSA, those from other provinces but also our municipal fire departments that are the last line of defence for communities across the north and have literally saved our towns and have saved our communities and saved in many cases family homes in places like Creighton, La Ronge, Air Ronge and Lac La Ronge.”
He also pointed to the extra work done by SaskPower, SaskTel as well as many contractors “to ensure that we're able to restore communication and power service to communities as an essential before we are able to advise the community leadership that it is safe to return.”
“But the work doesn't end. The work doesn't end with people returning to their home. The work will go on for weeks and literally go on for months as we see far too many homes that have been lost and people do not have a home to go to and so those families will need to be, we will need to work with closely to support in that period of time and we'll need to work with closely as we support the rebuilding of those homes and ultimately the rebuilding of those communities.”
Premier Moe also spoke of the work needed to be done to ensure they able to administer the $500 additional support cheques to evacuees, which he said he hopes will be administered in days, not weeks.
Minister of Government Relations Eric Schmalz said that he joined joined Minister Tim McLeod and SPSA President Marlo Pritchard to visit several communities that have been impacted by the wildfires.
Yesterday, he said, they had a “very powerful experience witnessing the devastation in Creighton, Denare Beach, Pelican Narrows, Weyakwom and the tri-communities of La Ronge, Air Ronge and Lac La Ronge.”
“I want to thank the frontline firefighters, volunteers, community members they all show true heroism in their efforts to protect those communities albeit there were some losses they could have been far worse had those people not been there and stepped forward. We were inspired by the optimism and the devotion of the community leaders we met with. They were people that we connected with previously and in some cases meeting for the first time under some very trying circumstances and we appreciate their leadership and their efforts in repatriating their communities going forward.”
Schmaltz said that as of this morning the Candle Lake council in consultation with the SPSA has “publicly advised that Candle Lake residents will be lifting their voluntary evacuation advisory and local emergency and that the Shoe Fire is no longer a threat or immediate threat to that community.”
As of 5 p.m today Schmalz said they are also announcing they are lifting the ATV-UTV ban. However the provincial fire ban will remain in place.
As for emergency funds to those displaced, all residents over the age of 18 will have who have been evacuated from the primary residence will receive $500 in financial assistance. Schmalz said there has been “a significant number of inquiries when these funds will be administered by their communities” and that “Minister McLeod and I have been speaking directly with community leaders about how these funds will be disbursed and we understand that there's some challenges for the local leadership to be able to do that effectively.”
Schmalz said the SPSA “will be working directly with the community leadership to support the disbursement of these funds to their residents in whatever way the community chooses in order to reduce the burden on them and their administration. We thank the leaders of all the affected communities for their willingness to collaborate on how these supports are provided to the impacted families and individuals.”
Pritchard provided the update on where things stand with the fires and it is as follows:
There are 20 active wildfires in the province and six are not contained. To date there have been 259 wildfires, well over the five-year average of 148 as of this date.
Pritchard said they can “confirm that we have confirmed 400 values have been burnt in the wildfire and those activities to continue to verify properties burnt will continue over the coming weekend into next week and we know that that number will increase over the coming days.”
As for weather conditions, Pritchard said they were “seeing a hopefully another break in the weather.” He reports they are mostly cloudy and cool today and in the coming days, and the forecast for much of the province was some much-needed rain into the weekend.
“So over the last number of days we've shifted from a defensive approach to an offensive approach into taking on these wildfires.:We've also hired approximately 140 type 3 firefighters to assist our Type Ones and Type Twos and we will be bringing on more in the coming weeks as they're identified to to help us solidify the fire lines and do some mopping up and really stabilize the the position moving forward.”
He said right now they are focusing on hot spots and trying to reduce the risk of flare-ups and continuing to monitor perimeters on all fires.
On evacuations, Pritchard said the “majority of our previously evacuated communities have been begun repatriating or have repatriated.”
As of that day Narrow Hills Provincial Park announced that they will be repatriating, and right now there are approximately 10,300 individuals that have either returned or are in the process of returning. He did clarify that some of the communities will neneeturning over a number of days and there are numerous self-evacuated individuals staying with friends or family.
Five communities still under evacuation orders are Creighton, Denare Beach, East Trout Lake, Whelan Bay as well as the P1 and P2s in Cumberland House.
Pritchard also spoke of the backlog in the 855 line and assisting with evacuations.
“I can say that the backlog has been absolutely 100 per cent addressed,” said Pritchard. “We are still doing callbacks and helping with registrations and that is is continuing over the number of days but those that call the 855 line now will be either dealt with immediately or within 24 hours and that is really a thanks to pulling in resources from across government, especially Social Services that really helped us man the phone lines and really reduced that backlog very quickly.”
As for distribution of the $500 cheques, Pritchard said they will be in contact with those community leaders in the coming days. Pritchard also said they are “continuously working” on evacuation payments to those that either self-evacuated or were entitled to food vouchers or financial assistance, and those will be retroactive back to the date of the evacuation orders.
Pritchard said they were “now working with either getting the finances into hands as we speak or they will be moved to a central location to be distributed over the coming week.”
Pritchard also spoke of the 30 fires that had been intentionally set.
“We continue to assist or gather evidence that we can supply to our police services and we ask for public assistance if they know anything of any of those intentional acts that were conducted or were started. If you know anything please call Crime Stoppers or your local police jurisdiction.”
