Sask. currently dealing with over 80 wildfires, none threatening communities, SPSA says
As the devastating wildfire in Jasper National Park continues to burn, Saskatchewan is currently batting more than 80 active wildfires of its own.
Steve Roberts, vice president, operations at the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) says what started out as a very wet spring and summer in the province has given way to heat and lots of dry lightning activity.
“We are currently dealing with over 80 active wildfires in our province right now, that number has come down somewhat from our peak of over 100. That being said, it will take some time to get all of them contained, extinguished and off the books,” Roberts said in an interview with CTV News on Tuesday.
He added that significant precipitation is needed throughout the province with more heat and dry weather forecasted in the coming days.
Of the 83 active wildfires burning, Roberts says as of July 30 none are threatening any communities. Only one community in the province has been threatened by a wildfire this year to date, that being Creighton, Sask. near Flin Flon, Man. Roberts says that situation is now under control and no evacuation alerts are in place anymore.
All the fires currently burning are north of Prince Albert, according to SPSA’s active wildfire situation map. However, Roberts says conditions in southern Saskatchewan are also favourable for wildifres, adding that people need to be just as vigilant down south as residents need to be in the north.
When it comes to preventing a situation similar to what occurred in Jasper, Roberts knows there are limitations as to what can be done sometimes, but said for them it begins with an extensive public campaign surrounding prevention.
“We also have a mitigation program, working with communities and individuals on making sure that their homes are more fire resistant, less of a risk and making those communities less [of a risk]. So even removing fuels around those communities, modifying the timber types that might be adjacent to a community, putting in some fire breaks,” Roberts said.
“So should a fire encroach on a town we would see that fire behavior drop because of those measures,” he added.
Roberts said that all public emergencies in Saskatchewan are managed by the SPSA, including evacuations.
“We do evacuation preparations with communities and our staff to ensure that they’re ready and understand how to interoperate the information we’re giving them,” Roberts said.
More fires than average
Compared to previous years, Roberts says 80 fires currently burning is considered a fairly high amount.
So far in 2024, there have been 423 wildfires in Saskatchewan. Roberts said normally this time of year, somewhere between 200 and 300 would be expected.
“So we are well over our five year average already and again we still have a little bit of wildfire season left going forward,” he said.
Despite the wet spring, Roberts said it’s not that surprising to see the amount of wildfires Saskatchewan has experienced so far.
“We had a dry winter and we expected this, we brought crews in early to deal with spring fires, so we had an above average amount of spring fires. Then we got the precipitation which literally brought us down to zero [wildfires] at one point in June,” Roberts said.
He added that once the heat and dry weather arrived, they came with some intense storm systems that brought a lot of lightning which sparked some of the wildfires currently burning.
“We were getting between five and 15 new wildfires every single day because of lightning,” Roberts said.
According to Roberts, long term investigations indicate that it is close to a 50/50 split when it comes to human caused and lightning caused wildfires in Saskatchewan.
Here’s a look at all active wildfires in Saskatchewan the SPSA is aware of as of July 30 and current fire bans in effect.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Poilievre to submit letter to Governor General asking to recall House for confidence vote
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre announced that he will submit a letter to the Governor General asking to recall the House for a confidence vote.
'I understand there's going to be a short runway,' new minister says after Trudeau shuffles cabinet
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau added eight Liberal MPs to his front bench and reassigned four ministers in a cabinet shuffle in Ottawa on Friday, but as soon as they were sworn-in, they faced questions about the political future of their government, and their leader.
Quebecer convicted of killing partner, two children sentenced
A Quebecer convicted in a triple murder on Montreal's South Shore has been sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole for 20 years in the second-degree death of Synthia Bussieres.
A car has driven into a group of people at a Christmas market in Germany
A car drove into a group of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, German news agency dpa reported.
Poilievre to Trump: 'Canada will never be the 51st state'
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is responding to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s ongoing suggestions that Canada become the 51st state, saying it will 'never happen.'
Guelph man facing assault charge after police say he spat in roommate's face during disagreement over cat
A fight between roommates has led to an assault charge for a Guelph man.
Joss Stone says she's discovered she's pregnant – just weeks after adopting a baby
Joss Stone has revealed that she is pregnant, just weeks after she and her husband adopted a baby boy.
A new book about Chrystia Freeland just came out. Here's what we learned
A new book about Chrystia Freeland has just come out, after the publishing company sped up its release date by a few months. CTV News sifted through the book and pulled out some notable anecdotes, as well as insights about Freeland's relationship with the prime minister.
Police say break-and-enter suspects were in Canada for 'purpose of committing criminal offences'
Five Chilean nationals who police believe were in Canada for 'the purpose of committing criminal offences' have been charged in connection with half a dozen break-and-enters across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).