The Vice-President of Operations with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency began his wildfire update by noting that they have sent condolences to wildfire partners across Canada due to the four recent fatalities. Steve Roberts says it’s a stark reminder of how dangerous this work is.

There are 54 wildfires burning in the province right now (Wed) with 370 so far this year. The five-year average is 312, but the ten-year average is 415, so it’s not the largest year to date for wildfires. Of the 54 fires, six are not contained, 34 are under assessment, three are contained and infrastructure is being protected at 11 fires.

So far, 1.2 million hectares of forest have burned in Saskatchewan this year. The ten-year average is 442,000. The largest wildfire spread was in 2015, with 1.4 million hectares burned.

The Fond du Lac Denesuline Nation has evacuated about 300 high-risk residents because of serious health threats from the forest fire smoke. Chief Kevin Mercredi says they acted quickly with the help of their health partners to move the most at-risk in the community to be safe. The Canadian Red Cross is providing hotel accommodations and other essential services in Saskatoon.