Not enough rain for Sask. wildfires

The Seabee mine north of LaRonge has evacuated non-essential personnel.

There are 10,398 evacuees receiving social services, which includes 320 (North Battleford), 4,706 (Prince Albert), 3.320 (Saskatoon), 1,254 (Regina) and 798 (Cold Lake.)

Weather

Environment Canada is forecasting some precipitation and cooler temperatures this week for nearly all of Saskatchewan.

“I see up in La Ronge, they may very well be getting over the next couple days five to 10 to maybe 25 millimetres (one inch) of rain. It will clear up the smoke, cleanse the air and dampen the fires. It will also provide some cooler weather that will really help those workers,” David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada, said.

“It’s not a rainmaker that’s going to end the drought but it will certainly be very welcome. All moisture is good.”

Phillips said the last three weeks has seen very little rain with 10 days at or above 30 C. Cooler temperatures, about four degrees below normal, are on the way after the rain ends around Thursday.

“You are absolutely clobbering any record that has ever been created with regards to precipitation… it’s hard to break records in Saskatoon because the records go back to the 1800s. Clearly it has been too little weather for too long.”

Environment Canada’s long-term model suggests warmer temperatures for the rest of the summer but more precipitation.

Province discourages from evacuees returning home early

Duane McKay, commissioner of emergency management and fire safety with Government Relations, is discouraging evacuees who want to return home before it is safe.

“We run into situations where people have found their way back into their communities… trying to protect their properties,” he said.

Karri Kempf with Social Services is also making it clear that the province did not issue a sign to Montreal Lake evacuees, saying they would be returning on Thursday.

A photo circulating on Facebook advies residents of Montreal Lake that they may be going home on Thursday.

“That sign is not issued by emergency social services. That is not one of the ways that we would not notify people. We would stick to our regular chains of command,” Kempf said on Tuesday.

“Anybody we have housed in our shelters who we are in direct contact through with the Red Cross we will strongly encourage them to wait until they have safety clearance and are able to access organized transportation so that we know that people travelling on roads are safe and going to arrive at their destination. That’s a good example of where that community and neighbouring communities may not have sufficient information to make choices for themselves as individuals.”

Kempf said Facebook has been a tremendous challenge for them.

Social services does not have a tally of how many people have returned home since many people are mobile and moving between cities.

Mail service has started for evacuees at all major service centres.

Donations for evacuees

The Lac La Ronge Indian Band has opened a bank account to accept donations for thousands of evacuees.

The donations will go towards helping cover the costs of emergency operation centres in Lac La Ronge Indian Band communities, including Grandmother’s Bay, Stanley Mission, Hall Lake, Sucker River, La Ronge and Air Ronge, according to Chief Tammy Cook-Searson.

The money will help support Red Cross evacuation shelters for items such as food and employees assisting the centres.

Donations can be made to the following CIBC account:
Transit # 58-5533813
Account name: LLRIB Evacuation 2015

Firefighters

There are over 1,500 fire personnel fighting the fires which include 550 military personnel and 116 out-of-province wildlife personnel.

The province said fighting fires is dangerous work and people need to be fully trained. Independent or freelance operations are being discouraged.

There have been 623 wildfires to date this year. An additional five structures have burnt over the last couple of weeks, which brings the total to 86.

news@panow.com

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by CKOM Staff

Not enough rain for Sask. wildfires

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