Boggy conditions have caused SaskPower to push the estimated restoration time for power to communities north of Prince Albert to 8 p.m. tonight. (Submitted/SaskPower)

By paNOW Staff

Emergency response

Some evacuees allowed to return home as Cloverdale fire contained

May 20, 2021 | 12:59 PM

UPDATE: SaskPower anticipates power will be back on between 6 and 8 p.m. They also ask anyone running a generator to turn it off before the power turns back on.

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Three days after it erupted, the Cloverdale fire burning northeast of Prince Albert has been declared contained.

Meanwhile, power is expected to be restored on Thursday to around 8,000 homes that have been in the dark since Monday by 8 p.m., and Highway 55 is also set to be reopened.

Speaking Thursday, Steve Roberts told reporters the fire was mapped Wednesday night at 5,583 hectares, but has not grown in last 24 hours and is not expected to grow any further.

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Roberts said crews will continue to do extinguishments within the fire zone, working on areas where there are accumulations of fuel still burning.

For a fire of this size, it will be matter of “weeks not days” before it is completely extinguished, said Roberts.

Evacuees in the City of Prince Albert and the RM of Buckland have been allowed to return home, but should be prepared to leave on short notice if conditions change, the City of P.A. said in a media release. Evacuees from the RM of Garden River are not allowed to return at this time.

Kim Morrall, who was evacuated Monday, told paNOW she was very happy to receive the phone call confirming she could return home.

“It’s three days of not knowing what’s going on and how long it’s going to be and so we are very relieved,” she said.

Morrall said if the experience has taught her one thing, it’s to always be be prepared.

Ashlee Schmidt and her young son have also received the green light to return home.

“We are not really too sure what we are going home to, but definitely [it’s] a huge sense of relief,” she said.

Schmidt has been staying with family since being forced to evacuate on Monday.

“We left with literally the shirts on our backs and had to go buy everything new, but had really great support from friends and family and we are very thankful for that,” she said.

Power restoration time pushed back to 8 p.m. Thursday

SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry said crews have been working around the clock to restore power to 8,000 homes north of P.A.

Cherry said they made some progress on the transmission line Wednesday.

“However, we have experienced some equipment issues as we have had to contend with some extremely difficult boggy terrain around some of the structures, and we have had some track machines get stuck,” he said.

SaskPower had hoped to have all services restored by 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon, but the estimated restoration time is now pegged at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Nearly 9,000 customers were impacted by the outage Monday, which included the Paddockwood, Christopher Lake, Meath Park, La Ronge and Stanley Mission areas.

Highways 55 to reopen

Highway 55 will re-opened to traffic at 5 p.m. with a 60 km speed limit to allow for emergency personnel still working in the area to work safely, the city of P.A. said.

Motorists are advised that there is smoke in the area and reduced visibility in spots.

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alison.sandstrom@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @alisandstrom