Communities evacuated as new wildfires in northwest Sask. threaten road access

New wildfires in the Saskatchewan's northwest have forced almost 200 people to leave their homes.

So far most of the new fires are small, but some have grown large enough to threaten road access to remote communities, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA). Highways 198 and 165 in the Beauval area were closed as of 3:30 p.m. CST Wednesday.

Evacuated communities include the Hamlet of Lac La Plonge, the English River First Nation's Lac La Plonge reserve and the Bear Creek resort subdivision. The Village of Beauval is under a voluntary evacuation order and residents are being told to be ready to leave on short notice.

"The activity on the [province's] west side significantly increased over the weekend," SPSA vice-president of operations Steve Roberts said at the agency's Wednesday wildfire update.

"Some of those fires have grown. So nowhere near the size and scope of the fires we've seen so far, but obviously enough to be a concern to those local communities."

The province reported 65 active wildfires — 20 not contained — as of 3:30 p.m. CST Wednesday. There have been 327 wildfires so far this year, well above the five-year average of 185 by this date.

Roberts said the same rainy weather that helped douse recent wildfires created new problems.

"The majority of these fires that started on the west side were a result of the storms that came through that did help the province with those big fires by bringing precipitation, but with them came thousands of lightning strikes."

More than 15,000 people were displaced by wildfires in June. Most of those evacuees have since returned home.

The Lac La Plonge reserve, one of the evacuated communities, has a wildfire just six kilometres away, according to Dale Apesis, part of the local emergency management team.

"There's a lot of mixed emotions right now," he said. "I'm the type of person where I can stay relaxed in high critical situations, where I don't overreact to certain things that did not happen yet, but always be prepared for the situations. So right now things seem to be working as we hope they work in terms of mitigating this risk."

He said around 100 people live on the reserve and 80 per cent of them have left the area. Most were sent to Cold Lake in Alberta, with some going to Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

Apesis said sprinklers and water tanks have been installed to protect homes and the community. He said updates on the situation can be found on the English River First Nation's emergency management Facebook page.

The village of Beauval, about 300 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, is under a state of emergency. Mayor Rick Laliberte said the Muskeg fire is around 12 kilometres from the village. People in the community are being asked to evacuate voluntarily.