PRINCE ALBERT — SPSA officials are continuing to report progress this week in fighting the wildfires in northern Saskatchewan, with more evacuees slated to return and the recent weather cooperating.
At their latest media availability Wednesday, SPSA President Marlo Pritchard reported to date the province had 259 wildfires, well above the average of 147 to date.
Of those, 80 per cent are human-caused, and there is mounting concern about criminal activity.
Pritchard reports that of those human-caused fires, approximately 30 have been investigated and are or have been intentionally set.
"We are asking for public's assistance in identifying those individuals that have started those fires or have attempted to start fires," Pritchard said.
"Of those fires we have recently had four in the Prince Albert area in the last number of days and so again we would ask members of the public to either call the 1-855 line (1-855-559-5502), your local police service or CrimeStoppers if you have any idea who is attempting or starting those fires across our province. I will also note that the RCMP have already laid two arson charges in regards to the fires and we will be continuing to investigate other fires in the province over the coming days."
The number of confirmed values lost remains at about 290 values lost, and Pritchard said they suspect that there is over 400. Their verification activities are continuing throughout this week to get an accurate count.
The provincial fire ban was also revised as of yesterday at 5 p.m., and now only applies to the area of the fire ban to the North Provincial Forest up to the Churchill River.
Pritchard also spoke of the announcement by Premier Scott Moe that the Government of Saskatchewan will be providing $500 in financial assistance to all evacuated residents over the age of 18.
"SPSA and the Government of Saskatchewan will be working with community leaders to distribute the financial assistance and it will be distributed directly as a grant form and there will be more information coming in the coming days and on how that timeliness and how that money will be rolling out into those communities. We know and we really emphasize that this is a very difficult time for those that were impacted and evacuated and we're doing everything as everything we can to ensure that everyone is receiving the financial support as quickly as possible."
Pritchard also spoke of efforts to address the backlog of "supporting and getting those individuals that have self-evacuated those financial supports or food vouchers."
He said they are increasing staffing to address that backlog. "We currently have 32 staff really making positive impacts to reduce that number of calls and callbacks and I do want to remind everyone that those financial financial assistance or financial support will be retroactive back to the date of the evacuation.
"As the minister said earlier this week I believe and we are turning a corner we're seeing the fire activity has been relatively same over the past few days there has not been any significant growth and we've also seen and been informed that there's numerous communities being you know either preparing for or have repatriated back to their communities."
Birch Portage evacuees returned home June 9, while Little Bear Lake, Moosehorn and Timber Bay are returning today. SPSA also says the following communities will also be lifting evacuation orders on June 12: Hall Lake, Brabant Lake, Nemieben Lake, Sucker River, Wadin Bay, English Bay, Sikachu, Clam Crossing, Lac La Ronge Indian Band, La Ronge, Air Ronge, Napatak, Eagle Point, Lamp Lake, Rabbit Creek, and Potato Lake. Priority one and two individuals in Stanley Mission are also going to be "probably" returned in the next couple days.
"As the repatriation efforts continue we will work with the community leaders to support those that are being supported by SBCA to safely return their communities over the coming days. We're still at this point in time still reporting approximately 10,000 or more individuals that have been evacuated. As we slowly help those communities to repatriate we'll hopefully be able to supply more updated numbers as community members return to their communities."
Fires update
As for the latest fires update, SPSA is reporting the Shoe Fire is still not contained and the size is 550,000 hectares. But there has been no significant growth since receiving rain on the weekend.
The JAYSMITH fires is still at 165,000 hectares, with no significant runs or fire activity reported.
The KISEW fire is reporting no activity, no growth after La Ronge received 24 mL of rain, but they continue to monitor and finish up values protection in the various communities..
The WOLF fire is 130,000 hectares in size and has merged with the Pelican 2 and the Club Fire. Crews continue to work around the Creighton and Denare Beach communities securing the line.
No structures were reported lost in Creighton, but SPSA says there were significant losses reported in Denare Beach. SPSA says that they have a documentation team that will be filling out those reports this week.
PELICAN 2 is listed at 40,000 hectares in size and the community of Pelican Narrows is not under threat with any hot spots in the vicinity extinguished and no more fuel around to pose a risk to the community.
The DITCH fire is currently 174,000 hectares and was active last week, but SPSA says the fire has been inactive for a few days now since the rains. Still, they plan to patrol hot spots and warm areas.
