A firefighter with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency oversees a controlled burn at Little Red River Park. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

FIRE FORECAST

Saskatchewan on track for ‘average’ wildfire season

May 7, 2021 | 3:09 PM

It’s still early, but the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) says the province is on track for an average wildfire season.

There’s been 63 fires so far in 2021, slightly above the five-year average for this time of year, which sits at 57.

“Our weather forecasts for now are for an average season,” SPSA Vice President Operations Steve Roberts told paNOW. “That being said, we’ve got our crews and our equipment ready, we have to be prepared for whatever the season hands us.”

In addition to fulltime staff, the agency employs over 200 seasonal firefighters each summer, plus support staff like dispatchers, mechanics, aircraft loaders and pilots.

Crews start coming online in April and Roberts said two-thirds are already operational.

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“In other words ready to respond to any fire situation that will come up,” he said.

Meanwhile the last remaining crews are currently arriving in the far north.

Roberts explained that this time of year, most fires occur south of the forested land and are “primarily what we’d see as grass-type fires.”

They’re usually human-caused and the result of people burning around their properties, or getting out on the land atv-ing or doing other recreational activities, he said.

“Until we start to see the grass start to green up and trees and leaves start to bud out and get really green, a little extra caution right now is probably good for everybody,” he said.

While there’s usually a lull in fire activity once the foliage greens, by mid-summer things start to dry out again and fire risk increases.

Last year saw only 118 fires, one-third of the five year average.

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alison.sandstrom@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @alisandstrom