Northern Sask. wildfire reaches Beauval, Patuanak airlifts residents out after wildfire cuts off only road
CBC
A wildfire has entered the northern Saskatchewan community of Beauval, the village's mayor says.
"The fire entered the northern village of Beauval and has created structural damage in the community as we speak," Beauval Mayor Rick Laliberte said in an interview around 7 p.m. Thursday.
Shortly after 4 p.m., a fire approached the village from the west and "flanked us," he said.
"And there's a second front to the north that's also coming in on the lagoon side, which is the industrial side of our community."
A mandatory evacuation order was issued last week for Beauval in response to nearby wildfires, but support staff and an emergency management team had remained behind. A call for them to evacuate was made only an hour before the blaze hit.
Laliberte said he and his wife were the last evacuees to leave the village, which is roughly 350 kilometres north of Saskatoon.
There are currently Emergency Operations Centre members in Beauval who are still working to protect buildings and other infrastructure from the fire, he said.
"We have structural firefighters that are in the village putting up a battle," said Laliberte.
"It's unbelievable. You pray — you've prayed that it wouldn't happen, but it's there and it's a reality."
Laliberte said he was going to go back, but was confronted with a wall of fire near the garbage dump in the community that was "100 feet tall" blocking entry, said Laliberte.
An escape route to the other side of the village remains available via Highway 165 across the bridges to La Plonge reserve, he said.
Just over 80 kilometres north of Beauval, the hamlet of Patuanak has declared a state of emergency and is airlifting some residents out a week after wildfire blocked the only road into the community, leaving around 700 people stranded.
The community is usually only accessible by road via Highway 918.
"Without assurance that the road could be opened and power lines still being threatened we declared a state of emergency in Patuanak," officials with the English River First Nation, which has its administration in Patuanak, said in a Facebook post Wednesday.
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