Cluster of northern fires now 5 times the size of P.A.

Those fires and all of the fires burning around La Ronge are more than 20 kilometres from the Town of La Ronge, Roberts said.

Smoke from the northern fires have led to the medical evacuations of people with chronic health conditions, the elderly and families with children under the age of two from seven communities.

Of the evacuees, Deanna Wysoskey, co-ordinator for emergency social services for the ministry of social services said 275 people are now in Prince Albert and 475 are in Saskatoon.

Ten people have been moved from the hospital in La Ronge, six to hospitals in Prince Albert and Shellbrook, and four were discharged to their homes due to smoke-related issues.

More space to accommodate more evacuees has been added, with Red Cross cots now available at Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Woodland Campus in Prince Albert.

According to a Facebook post from Lac La Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, Sucker River is no longer on standby. The Sucker River fire has been deemed to not be a direct threat to the community.

Managing the fires

Overnight, there was rainfall on the fires burning near La Ronge, from three millimetres to nine millimetres.

“So, at the lower end of the scale, we’re going to see some fire improvements, but not significant changes to the fires themselves,” said Roberts.

The province is not anticipating any major rainfall in the next three days.

Overnight there were 11 new wild fires, bringing the total number of active fires to 48 burning in the province. Roberts said their typical pattern has been that there have been new fires that are being contained and are not spreading.

“And the fact that we can now engage on some of these larger fires of concern, because the weather has moderated is also good news,” Roberts said. “From a fire general perspective, general overall threat, we are in a better situation today than we were yesterday.”

On Tuesday, the province is now able to use air tankers, something they were unable to do previously. Roberts said visibility has improved to the point where both air tankers and helicopters can be used to bring crews in.

“And we’ve already engaged some of the fires that we couldn’t get in to yesterday (on Monday) with ground crews air support already this (Tuesday) morning,” Roberts said.

The Sucker River and Clark fires, burning in the La Ronge area, have not been contained. The Sucker River fire has led to medical evacuations, and the Clark fire has directly contributed to smoky conditions in La Ronge.

Meanwhile, the David and Clearwater River fires are both stable. These fires are north of the Battlefords. There are no evacuation orders related to the David fire because it’s not near communities.

Crews have made progress fighting the Clearwater River fire, so much so that Roberts said some people may be able to return home later on Tuesday or early on Wednesday.

But the coming westerly winds have presented the province with fresh smoke concerns, since they will be pushing smoke from northern Alberta fires into Saskatchewan. Roberts said this will add to the general smoky, hazy conditions created by the fires burning here.

As well, it may mean that the smoke will migrate from the forested areas to the southern part of the province, Roberts said.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames

by Thia James

Cluster of northern fires now 5 times the size of P.A.

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