There were 15 wildfires burning in Saskatchewan, with seven of them still burning out of control, as of 11 a.m. on Friday, according to the latest update from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.
More than 8,000 people from 16 communities have been evacuated.
Provincial Fire Commissioner Marlo Pritchard said changing weather conditions have been hampering firefighting efforts.
“We are experiencing high daytime temperatures, warm evening temperatures and combined with the winds these fires are continuing to move significant distances.”
A number of structures have also been lost, said Pritchard, including to the Shoe fire, located north of Prince Albert, but heavy smoke and dangerous fire and road conditions have made it difficult for officials to get an exact estimate of how many.
Another of the hardest-hit areas is in Pelican Narrows, located about five hours north of Saskatoon, near the Saskatchewan-Manitoba boundary, where more than 2,000 residents have been forced to flee their homes.
The fire threatening the community continues to burn out of control and crews are preparing to put up barriers, should flames get to the outskirts of the community.
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Heavy smoke has also restricted firefighters’ use of aircraft to help fight the fire, said Pritchard, although the winds are expected to shift this weekend.
“A lot of the smoke that has been sitting for the last day or so will be moving south and in (the) next 24 to 48 hours, the communities in the south of the province will experience extreme smoke conditions and air quality alerts,” added Pritchard.
Firefighting aircraft from Quebec and Alaska and fire crews from Nova Scotia have also arrived in the province to help fight the fires and more firefighters from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia are expected to arrive soon.
In addition to a fire ban, on Thursday, the province also put a ban in place on the use of all terrain vehicles and utility vehicles on all vacant Crown land, provincial parks and provincial forests.
The province has also launched a dedicated toll-free phone line — 1-855-559-5502 — for anyone who has general questions about the fire and will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The latest information on the fire situation in Alberta is available online at saskpublicsafety.ca.
Pritchard said that so far this year there have been 207 wildfires in Saskatchewan, well above the five-year average of 127 fires.
— with files from The Canadian Press.
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