Candle Lake on edge as wildfires cast shadow over important May long weekend
CBC
As three nearby wildfires continue to burn nearby, the resort village of Candle Lake in northern Saskatchewan remains under a pre-evacuation alert, clouding the important Victoria Day long with concern for local officials and business owners.
The pre-evacuation alert, issued Thursday, was still in effect for the lakeside community, about 70 kilometres north of Prince Albert, as of Saturday, warning residents and visitors to be ready to leave on short notice.
The village sees a huge increase in visitors during the summer months, typically beginning with the Victoria Day long weekend, said Candle Lake chief administrative officer Brent Lutz.
"We go from a community of about 1,000 permanent residents to over 10,000 people here in the summer," said Lutz. "The May long weekend is the start of our summer season, and we literally see thousands of people coming back to their seasonal properties."
A local business owner said the long weekend is an important one for the village.
"For us, we're a seasonal business, so May long weekend represents opening for the season," said Shauna Kulbida, co-owner of Craft Ice Cream and Eatery. "Like many other businesses out here, this is a prime time for us to get amped up for the season and get going."
But with the pre-evacuation alert in effect, there are concerns hanging over any celebrations this long weekend.
"It's definitely in the background of our minds, and making sure that we're prepared in case it does become an actual evacuation," said Kulbida.
She has lived in Candle Lake for three years, and said she's never experienced anything like this before.
"There's definitely anxiety about it. I mean, it is a drier spring for sure. We haven't had much rain," said Kulbida. "As a business owner out here as well, it weighs on you because it's also part of our livelihood."
Lutz said the alert was issued to get ahead of any potential risk.
"We wanted to make the community aware that there is a possible outcome, if they were to make their way to our community, that we would have to be prepared to take action," the CAO said.
"We didn't want to cause alarm, but we wanted people to be aware and think about the things they need to do to be prepared."
Despite the alert, the village is proceeding with its planned "Welcome Back to the Lake" event on Saturday, including displays from local organizations and a family concert.
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