'I've never seen anything like it': Sask. premier says thousands more may need to evacuate in coming days
CBC
More than 9,000 people have now been evacuated from northern Saskatchewan due to wildfires and Premier Scott Moe says that number could reach 15,000 in the coming days.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Moe, who grew up in and lives in Shellbrook, 44 kilometres west of Prince Albert, near the fires.
"In the way of the ferocity of the fires, how quickly they're moving, how they're changing and encroaching on communities."
As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 21 active wildfires in the province, eight of which were not contained, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA).
"It hasn't rained this spring in the north. Things are tinder dry and the wind continues to blow each and every day and every few days it shifts direction and threatens a community in a different way or threatens a new community," Moe said.
Speaking on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said the federal government will match donations made to the Canadian Red Cross, with the money to go toward wildfire relief and disaster recovery.
The Resort Village of Candle Lake declared a state of emergency Tuesday as the Shoe fire, the largest in the province at more than 407,000 hectares, came within 14 kilometres of the community. A voluntary evacuation notice remains in effect.
La Ronge Mayor Joe Hordyski told CBC News on Tuesday evening that fire has destroyed some buildings within the town — including a Rona hardware store and four buildings in the Eagle Point subdivision just south of the airport.
He said 13 houses were also destroyed in nearby Sucker River.
Hordyski says there's a concern about safety for those staying behind as high winds fan flames. He says the RCMP are down to a few officers and that the emergency operations centre is re-locating outside the town.
He says he won't leave town until he has to.
"I have no intention of leaving," Hordyski said. "Our firefighters deserve to have support. I want to be there to encourage and support them as they go and make sure they're fed and taken care of."
Everyone living within a 20-kilometre radius of La Ronge, Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Reserve were told to evacuate the area immediately Monday as a fast-moving fire closed in.
That included hospital and long-term care patients, who were moved in buses and ambulances out of town after smoke and fire threatened the airport, making evacuation by air impossible.
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