By Brent Bosker

MacDowall fire status unchanged

May 20, 2011 | 12:58 PM

A forest fire burning south of Prince Albert is in a holding pattern, but the Ministry of Environment is being cautious before downgrading its status.

“If there is an opportunity of it to escape, we don’t want to change the status too soon,” said Brent Krayetski, provincial wildland fire coordinator with the Ministry of Environment.

The fire remains out of control, but crews anticipate changing the status this evening, Krayetski said.

“The crews are continuing to work on it. They’re working on putting some water on there and cooling off some hot spots along the line and working their way inward.”

Even with the continued dry, windy weather, 45 firefighters using heavy equipment and air tankers were able to keep the fire from growing in size, said Krayetski, who estimates the fire to be 135 hectares in size.

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Smoke from the fire slowed traffic on highway 11 Wednesday, but Krayetski said that shouldn’t be an issue today for long weekend travelers.

“Today looks like a northerly component wind, so it shouldn’t impact a whole lot on the highway.”

Check back with paNOW for more updates

bbosker@panow.com