As thousands run from Sask. wildfires, these people are rushing to fight them

Cliff Buettner was only two days into his retirement when he was called back to help fight Saskatchewan's raging wildfires.

"This is far beyond anything that I've experienced in my 40 years," said the former director of forestry and emergency protective services for the Prince Albert Grand Council. 

"I've been in some pretty dire situations and this is some of the worst I've seen."

Residents of La Ronge, Air Ronge, the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and everywhere within a 20-kilometre radius had to evacuate by Tuesday afternoon as fire rapidly made its way toward those northern Saskatchewan communities.

The Rona at the community's entrance is completely destroyed, Mayor Joe Hardyski told CBC News on Tuesday. Posts on social media show that the building that housed the Robertson Trading Post also burned.

So, too, are a dozen houses in the nearby communities of Sucker River and a handful in Eagle Point, he said.

Saskatchewan has faced significant losses due to the unpredictability of this wildfire season, Buettner said, adding that the speed and intensity of the fires have not given communities much time to react.

A Facebook post from the Northern Village of Denare Beach Tuesday morning, for instance, confirmed that fire had destroyed everything south of Ninth Avenue to the reserve.

"Timber transports embers that are being carried out by the convection and moved ahead of the fire, and that's what's perpetuating the fire with this wind," Buettner said. 

Conditions on the ground, he added, have become "a dangerous game" for emergency personnel. Buettner said on Monday he lost contact with individuals on the ground who were within the fire boundary. They had to shut off their phone to conserve the battery until they made it to a safe place to communicate they were OK.

Farther south, the Saskatchewan First Nations Emergency Management in Prince Albert is offering Type 3 emergency personnel firefighter training — and locals are rushing to join the fight against the fires. 

Type 3 firefighters are brought in as a relief for higher-level firefighters, while they attend to the more intense areas of a fire and contain it. They are responsible for suppression or clean-up once a fire is contained or laid back down to the ground. They are often brought in once a fire loses its intensity. 

Brenda Roberts with the Prince Albert Grand Council, who has been helping to coordinate the training, said she's had over 100 applicants so far — one as young as 17.  

"We've also had calls from people who have heavy equipment experience, Class 1A drivers, heavy duty mechanics — just to say that they're available," she said.