Volunteer crews from across Sask. flock to Beauval to fight fires

Volunteer firefighters from across Saskatchewan have been working in Beauval and other communities in the province's north to help save them from ongoing wildfires.

Volunteer crews and equipment from Humboldt, Davidson and Warman, alongside a host of other communities, have been helping with controlled burns, patrolling for spot fires and setting up sprinkler systems in the village, which is about 350 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon and is under a full evacuation order.

"You immediately just thought, 'they need help,'" said Corey Dean, the chief of the fire department in the south-central Saskatchewan town of Davidson.

"We have the training and we have the resources, we have extra equipment. We have a large enough department. It was a decision that we made upon ourselves."

Dean was in Beauval from July 2 to July 13 fighting fires. He and his crew helped save every house in the community as the fires edged up against the town, he said.

"It's literally hell on earth when the fire comes into town. There's no other way to describe it," he said. "It quickly turned from daylight to nighttime as smoke covered the sun. It got really dark, really smoky, and really hot."

It was "easily the most intense and humbling experience of my life as a firefighter," said Dean.

His Beauval deployment was his second this season, having spent six days in Weyakwin — about 150 kilometres southeast of Beauval — setting up a controlled burn earlier in the summer to protect the Ramsey Bay Resort. His team, all of whom have other full-time careers, are now taking a breather, he said.

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency has been spearheading the effort to recruit local firefighters, putting out a call through the Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs to help co-ordinate resources.

Mike Kwasnica, the president of the fire chiefs' association, said local fire crews, who have more experience with structure fires, are being called in to let provincial fire crews focus on wildland firefighting.  

"This season has been extraordinarily busy like we've never seen before," said Kwasnica, who is also the chief of the Humboldt Fire Department. "To do a provincial call-out like this is very rare."

Kwasnica sent two of his firefighters to Beauval to complement another department that could only send a fire truck. Earlier this summer, he also did a 12-day deployment fighting fires in Weyakwin and La Ronge, to the north. 

Like Dean's crews, Kwasnica's firefighters also have other full-time jobs, which he said makes co-ordination difficult.

"I think a lot of the municipality fire departments are starting to get tired and worn out," he said.