(submitted photo/Madison Whitly)

By Mat Barrett

Wildfire Watch

SPSA provides update on English Creek fire at Fort a la Corne, now at 37,500 hectares

May 19, 2020 | 1:29 PM

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) has provided an update on the English Creek fire burning in the Fort à la Corne forest.

As of 10:45 a.m., on Monday, May 19, the fire was listed at 37,500 hectares in size, and it remains uncontained. According to SPSA Acting Vice-President of Operations Steve Roberts, there hasn’t been any assets or structures lost at this point, but the fire has started to drift onto some nearby farmland.

The fire started on provincial Crown land.

“We have not heard of any structural loss, or losses that way,” Roberts said. “Because it has just barely encroached into the farmland. But again, we will assess that if there are things like fence lines or something that may have been impacted by the fire, we will assess that at a later date.”

A view of the smoke from Kinistino. (Facebook/ Kelly Taylor)

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On Sunday, May 17, residents of nearby rural municipalities, including the R.M. of Torch River and R.M. of Garden River were told by the SPSA to prepare for evacuation if necessary. Roberts said the team is continuously communicating with those residents.

“We have local emergency service officers there in contact with various residents of communities providing fire and smoke information to them in real time,” he said. “So they may make appropriate decisions as required.”

While residents of those municipalities prepare for a possible evacuation, there’s a bit of good news for those at the James Smith Cree Nation. Last week, about eight residents were evacuated from the reserve as a precaution.

“As far as I understand, those residents have moved back,” Roberts told northeastNOW. “It was temporary because of some smoke and some prevailing winds that were happening at the time. Those winds have shifted.”

Roberts noted rain is in the forecast and that will bring variable winds as well, which could create some more challenges.

He said they are working on fire guards with about a dozen bulldozer operators and dozens more people on the ground working. Roberts said there are at least 45 firefighters on the ground from the province, and various other departments and communities in the area. There are also individuals such as pilots helping out as well who aren’t tallied in that number.

Roberts spoke briefly about how to abide by COVID-19 protocols in the event of an evacuation.

He said families would still be allowed to voluntarily evacuate on their own, and if an order was needed. As for those who would need transportation or housing from the province, Roberts said they will have to look into how they could maintain social distancing and limit the risk of transmission. He said keeping evacuees at a larger centre such as a gym would be difficult. Instead, obtaining various hotel rooms would need to be considered.

A big reason for the spread of the English Fire is the conditions of the Fort à la Corne forest. Roberts said it is a very dense and over mature forest with lots of dead and blown down material.

“There has been no appreciable fire activity for decades,” he said. “So what that means is that there is a lot of available fuel early in the spring before we have trees ‘greened up,'” he said.

Roberts compared it to a typical grass fire but on a much larger scale due to a large amount of above ground material and increased wind.

With the fire ripping through a very old and mature forest, Roberts added that in the end, as long as there isn’t any other damage, there will be some positives that come out of this.

He said it “will be beneficial for regenerating that forest to some younger stand types which will be more ecologically suited.”

Roberts also told reporters in the update today the fire was man made, but he did not go into detail on how the fire was started. The investigation into the cause is ongoing.

A wildfire alert remains in effect for the R.M. of Torch River and the R.M. of Garden River.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6