Saskatchewan could be “turning a corner” on the fight against spring wildfires in the northern half of the province, but there’s still more work to be done, according to the province’s public safety minister.
Some Saskatchewan wildfire evacuees are being told they can go home on Monday, while others are being asked to reconsider an immediate return in areas where services haven’t been fully restored.
Residents in Weyakwin, located around 150 kilometres north of Prince Albert, were able to return home over the weekend. Workers at the Foran Mining site near McIlvenna Bay are also beginning to return in a staged repatriation plan.
“This is a really positive change,” Saskatchewan Public Safety Minister Tim McLeod told reporters in a briefing Monday. “We’re now turning a corner, I would say.”
Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation also gave the go ahead to healthy evacuees with their own vehicles to return to Pelican Narrows, but the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency warned the community may not be suitable for many to return to yet.
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“It’s been unoccupied for a number of weeks,” Steve Roberts, SPSA Vice President of Operations, said. “Something to clarify and ask your community leads on (is), ‘is this set up? Can I get this? Can I do this? Should I be bringing back groceries to cover me for one week?'”
Roberts noted the grocery store in the community hadn’t been restocked, gas stations haven’t been replenished, and there are still ongoing power outages.
He added there’s still significant smoke in the area, which would impact those with health concerns.
But ultimately, the decision to allow a return is up to local community leaders, he said.
Over 11,000 evacuees still being supported
Despite the ability to return some evacuees to their home communities, Roberts said there are over 11,000 evacuees registered provincewide. He said 10,262 residents were being supported by the Canadian Red Cross, while 860 more were accessing SPSA supports. On top of that, there are more evacuees who haven’t accessed supports.
Questions were raised during Monday’s briefings about evacuees who are having difficulties accessing those financial supports. McLeod said “everybody’s doing their level best” to make sure people are directed where they need to go for help.
“No evacuees should be turned away from supports that they need,” he said, directing those with questions to contact an information hotline at 1-855-559-5502.
McLeod also pointed to the Saskatchewan government’s donation of $15 million to the Canadian Red Cross for evacuee supports. The Red Cross said as of Friday it had raised $650,000 through its Saskatchewan call for donations, not including promised donation matching from the federal government.
Fire borders merging, more work to be done
While cooler weather and precipitation assisted firefighters in attacking the flames over the weekend, the wildfires in northern Saskatchewan continue to evolve and merge.
The massive SHOE fire is currently mapped at just over 500,000 hectares — approximately 22 times the size of Saskatoon — and may be growing. Roberts confirmed the fire’s borders are overlapping with the DITCH blaze, which had earlier forced the evacuation of Weyakwin. The PELICAN2, WOLF, and CLUB fires affecting Pelican Narrows, Denare Beach, and Creighton are also merging.
However, Roberts said they will continue to be referred to separately for operational reasons.
“For logistical reasons, such as the DITCH fire and SHOE fire, that we do not want to merge together,” he said. “They’re being managed from different areas of the province, so we’ve kept them separate, even though their borders touch at some point.”
Efforts on many of the fires are focused on shoring up fire guards around at-risk communities, while also putting out hotspots behind the front lines.
As of 1 p.m. CST on Monday, there were 25 wildfires burning in Saskatchewan, eight of them considered out of control. So far in 2025 the SPSA has recorded 256 wildfires, far higher than the five-year average of 145 for this time of year.
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