Chief: Northern fire in check after evacuations

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“We evacuated all the chronic patients with respiratory problems, infants and elderly as soon as possible,” Robillard said.

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Later in the night, the band decided about 600 people needed to evacuate Black Lake and head to Stony Rapids.

At the same time, crews with Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM) were dropping water from planes and firefighters were trying to contain the fire.

The strong winds persisted, and the fire neared Black Lake’s infrastructure right through until 1:30 a.m., Robillard said, with hot spots within 100 metres of the community at one point.

“We had a local crew, fire department with SERM and the fire department from Stony Rapids assisted us as well too, along with volunteers that kept the fire at bay through the night.”

Robillard said they were lucky that “Mother Nature was on our side” in the wee hours of the morning as heavy rain and snow dissipated the fire.

By 3 a.m., the precipitation led to a judgment call to stop southbound evacuations by plane.

The province considered the fire stable by Saturday afternoon, and Robillard said SERM would ensure all fires adjacent to the community were out before giving the all-clear for people to return from Saskatoon.

He – along with many others – didn’t get much sleep, had conference calls every three hours or so.

The community is no stranger to forest fires. Within the last decade a fire forced evacuation from Black Lake and Stony Rapids, and another fire hit in 2008.  

This fire grew to an estimated 150 to 200 hectares, which is equivalent to 1.5 to two square kilometres. For a sense of scope, that’s larger than Saskatoon’s riverbank park area.

This fire was started by a group of young people that was cutting and stacking wood around 4 p.m. on Friday, band councillor Victor Ecoht said.

“They were cooking lunch or something out there but the fire broke away from them because it was too windy.”

That can’t be confirmed, Robillard said.

“The RCMP and SERM, we’ve heard some stories but it’s not confirmed yet and they’re currently investigating with that lead.”

Black Lake is about 800 kilometres north of Prince Albert and has a population of about 1,700 people.

claskowski@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk

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