Northern fire: about 1,000 to be evacuated from 3 communities

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The road access to Nemeiben Lake has been closed, and the road out of the community remains open for residents to leave.

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A fire is also burning about one km away from Highway 102, according to a Facebook post from Cook-Searson. This road remains open.

Stanley Mission has been placed under an evacuation recommendation.

There are currently 157 people already evacuated from Sikachu, Clam Crossing and Sucker River – all people evacuated for health reasons.

The resurgent fire threats in the North come as the province has seen a number of fires start within the last few days.

The Eli fire started after a thunderstorm went through the area, and then the fire “took off,” Cook-Searson said via telephone on Friday.

The fire is now five square km in size.

The winds are expected to be headed in the direction of the community.

The band is organizing transportation and has made the Jonas Roberts Community Centre available to be a receiving centre.

“We did receive a call from Wildfire Management early this morning, letting us know that they’re strongly recommending a general evacuation. So, we are doing a general evacuation for the community of Sucker River, because the fire is so close.”

She said people will be going door to door to let residents know how close the fire is to the community and the winds are expected to be west winds.

The province-wide heatwave has led to thunderstorms – and lightning strikes. In a six-hour period on Thursday alone, there were 5,000 lightning strikes and 42 new fires.

“Because of the weather, the new fires and the windy conditions that come with those, we had growth on the Egg and the Clark fires, which were fires of concerns yesterday (Thursday),” said Steve Roberts, the executive director of the Wildfire Management Branch.

The province has issued a travel not recommended advisory for the area north of La Ronge as extreme wildfire hazards spread.

The travel advisory recommends against all non-essential travel in areas including La Ronge, Air Ronge, Sucker River, Wadin Bay, Stanley Mission and Nemeiben Lake. 

Mayor of the Town of La Ronge, Thomas Sierzycki wrote on his Facebook page that there is no fire threat to the town and no evacuation order has been announced. He is asking residents not to listen to media reports advising them to evacuate to safer locations. “We will continue updating as the situation develops and information becomes available,” he wrote.

Over 100 people were bused to Prince Albert on Wednesday.

As of Friday, the Saskatchewan Polytechnic campus in Prince Albert is being prepared to take in evacuees.

Currently, there is increased risk from active wildfires and smoke conditions especially in the area of La Ronge, including Missinipe, Sucker River, Wadin Bay, Nemeiben Lake, Black Bear Island Lake, Besnard Lake, Hall Lake, Clam Lake and Egg Lake.  

The City of Prince Albert has also declared a fire ban in Little Red River Park.

panews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow