(Ministry of Environment)

By Ian Gustafson

hot and dry

Two of 19 wildfires burning in Saskatchewan rated a concern

Jul 3, 2021 | 2:12 PM

Cooler, and perhaps wetter weather is coming but for the time being there are at least two wildfires of note being observed by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA).

Those blazes of concern are in the north and far north regions.

Steve Roberts with the SPSA told the media Saturday the province is beginning to see a cooling trend from the heat dome activity, more specifically in the north including some precipitation but also some lightning.

“Currently there are 19 fires burning in the province, 207 so far this year. Our five-year average is 197. That’s four new fires in the last 24 hours,” Roberts said.

“Until we get moisture we will be dealing with warm temperatures and dry fuel conditions across the province. Those will only change when we begin to get precipitation. Currently that is in the far north. The low pressure is going to come down from the north and the rest of the province is going to cool down slightly which improves our action on fires, but we won’t have a drastic drop in fire hazards in the near future.”

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He explained one of the fires of concern is the Lock fire between the Alberta border and Buffalo Narrows which has grown to 4,700 hectares. There are crews on site to manage the incident.

“It did receive some rain, not significant, but some rain so fire behavior is moderating today,” he said. “They will take the opportunities to get crews out and take advantage of this cooling trend to get some containment on this fire.”

The primary concern is the eastern flank which is the side of the fire that could pose a threat to communities. However, he said the communities are roughly 20 kilometres near the edge of the fire. It has not been contained.

Fire near uranium mine

The other blaze of note is the Briggs fire near the Cigar Lake uranium mine. It currently covers over 22,000 hectares.

They were able to secure the perimeter around the mining site through aerial operations yesterday with help from the incident management team. The site is considered secure from direct fire threat but there will be smoke in the area. They are going to continue to manage the blaze with aircraft, crews and heavy equipment on scene.

“Some of their [Cameco’s] critical staff remain on site to ensure operations are secure and to patrol looking for any potential sparks or issues that could impact their site,” he said.

He explained since its onset it has grown significantly in a direction away from the mine. The main concern is the site, it’s facilities and the airport.

“It still remains a concern. It’s a large uncontained wildfire and it still has some volatile fire behaviour,” Roberts said. “Our concern will be is that it does not move in a direction that would further threaten these values.”

There are some remote values in the area they are protecting with sprinklers. He added mine officials will determine when it’s safe for staff to return to the site.

Active wildfires in Saskatchewan. .(Government of Saskatchewan)

On Friday the government announced a province wide fire ban including open fires, fireworks and controlled burns. Many rural municipalities also imposed their own fire bans.

“The intent is to remove the potential for human caused fires as we anticipate more fires from lightning and managing the couple significant fires we currently have in the province at this time,” he explained.

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12