By Glenn Hicks

Hundreds return to Pelican Narrows as crews make further progress

Sep 15, 2017 | 2:45 PM

It’s the most upbeat wildfire and emergency officials have sounded in weeks. 

Improving weather conditions are allowing them to make headway on the blazes around Pelican Narrows. It appears all evacuees who are healthy enough to repatriate will be home by the weekend.

Duane McKay, the Commissioner of Fire Safety said the news is good.

“We’ve got quite a bit of a different situation than we’ve seen in the past with the change in weather,” he said. “We’ve seen significant progress on the fires and the impact on communities.”

Over 500 residents returned home to Pelican Narrows since the Evacuation Order was rescinded Wednesday. More are expected to return in the coming days.

Frightening experiences

'I'm grateful they survived': mother reflects on daughter's accident in Vegas

6h ago

NDP Opposition

NDP shadow minister addresses health care concerns, allegations of neo-natal transfers out of country

7h ago

Hospital about 25% completed

SIGA donates $375,000 toward Victoria Hospital

9h ago

The small communities of Jan Lake and Tyrell Lake are also now clear to repatriate although McKay said a little more work was needed in Birch Portage.

“Certainly we hope by Saturday those folks can go back as well,” McKay said.

The two biggest fires closest to the communities are now 25 per cent contained with secure containment lines in place where the threat is most severe.

Steve Roberts with Wildfire Management said they would be continuing their operations to further extend those lines.

“There are still a lot of active fires within their confines and we’ll keep monitoring them,” he said. “We’ll continue to work to expand those secure areas and improve security for the folks who’ve come back to the communities.”

Not everyone can return home yet.

Deanna Valentine with Emergency Social Services said around 1,900 of the total 2,700 evacuees remained in Prince Albert or Saskatoon because of health issues or because they had infant children. The dense smoke remains a barrier for their return.

Officials said they received reports from Pelican Narrows that Friday was one of the smokiest days experienced since the wildfires forced people to flee late August. Special air purifiers are in place in a number of community buildings.

Meanwhile, it’s not known for how long the wildfires could continue to burn.

Roberts said fires of this size this late in the season could stay active for a long time.

“Until we get fall rains in significant quantities we could see the fires burn well into the winter,” he said.

Glenn.Hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow