A look at a wildfire burning near Buffalo Narrows. (@Shushan49765498/Twitter)

By Derek Craddock

WILDFIRE SEASON

Province gives first glance at upcoming wildfire season

Apr 8, 2024 | 1:00 PM

The calendar has now turned to April which means the province is gearing up for what could be another intense wildfire season.

The season officially began on April 1 but as Steve Roberts, vice president of operations with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) explains, crews have already been training.

“We have actually brought our air crews and ground crews on two weeks early,” he said. “Ground crews are already in training as are our air crews. The result will be as we’ll have training personnel and aircraft available about two weeks earlier than we did this time last year.”

Roberts mentioned that 220 type 1 firefighters and 410 type 2 firefighters will be available for the season. Should the need arise for more help, the SPSA said it has been in talks with other provinces and officials in U.S. states for firefighters and other resources.

Last year, the amount of land burned from wildfires in Saskatchewan was about 1.9 million hectares of land, roughly five times the size of Prince Albert National Park.

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More than 500 fires burned last season, leading to poor air quality and prompting the evacuation of several northern and First Nation communities.

Roberts said they already have Memorandum of Understandings with local tribal councils if evacuations occur this year.

“Should they require our support, we will assist them, but they will lead them for the sole intent of ensuring that they are pertinent, timely and culturally appropriate for their membership,” he said. “A good example is the agreement with Meadow Lake Tribal Council that will take over all the evacuations and work with the agencies here should they need additional supports”

While federal officials are expecting a wildfire season like or worse than last year, the SPSA said they can’t determine how big the wildfire will be this year.

Right now, just one active fire has been reported to the SPSA and no fires burning from 2023 are still smoldering right now.

Roberts and other officials with the SPSA are using this time to plead for caution with Saskatchewan residents as about half of fires from last year were human caused, the rest were by lightning strikes which usually don’t start until June.

“Recognize that there is a higher risk,” Roberts said. “I know that people think that wildfire season is the middle of the summer, but a large number of fires are started in the spring. Some of those, like last year, became very large wildfires into early May that caused a number of evacuations. So do not underestimate the risk of these early spring fires.”

The SPSA noted that even though parts of southern Saskatchewan received a large amount of snow at the end of March, conditions are still dry in many parts of the province, leading to prime conditions for fires to start.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com