Crews battle the Phoenix Fire in Prince Albert National Park in 2018. (File photo/paNOW)

By Logan Lehmann

Wildfires

Multiple contained, uncontained fires burning close to local communities

May 3, 2023 | 2:19 PM

Wildfire season is here in Saskatchewan and multiple fires have already been reported all over.

Currently, there are nine fires burning in the province, four contained, four uncontained, and one that’s forcing a community to flood to protect its property.

Several fires are burning too close for comfort in some Central Saskatchewan communities, one west of MacDowall and one just south of Batoche. Both fires reportedly started burning on April 29.

The fire near MacDowall, being named Lilly, currently covers 525.9 hectares of land and is burning in the Nisbet Provincial Forest, about 12 kilometres west of the town and 33 kilometres southwest of Prince Albert. It has been confirmed that fire was caused by human activity.

The blaze near the community of Batoche and the Batoche National Historical Site, called OAIR1, covers 909 hectares of land and sits less than 6 kilometres away from the site. The blaze is the largest uncontained fire in the province and it’s unknown how the fire started.

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A look at where the fires Lilly and OAIR1 are burning in Central Sask. as of 2pm on May 3.

To the northwest of Prince Albert, another fire named Rocky started burning on Tuesday and already covers 400 hectares. Located about 26 kilometres north of Choiceland, the fire is currently uncontained but poses no immediate threat to surrounding communities. The fire was caused by human activity. The largest fire in the north, Vermette, covers 216 hectares and was also started on April 29 by human activity. The fire poses no immediate threat to any communities, currently burning 50 kilometres southwest of Buffalo Narrows.

Meanwhile in Cumberland House, the community is more focused on protecting its values rather than fighting the fire. Named Delta, the fire started on Wednesday and covers five hectares of land less than 5 kilometres northwest of the community. According to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency’s Wildfire Status website, the area is in the ‘Active Flooding’ category, meaning that the fire is active and action is focused on protecting values in the area, such as cabins and infrastructure.

A look at the fires burning around the province as of May 3, 2023.

See below a list of all the contained fires in the Province as well as the closest community where they are burning:

• 29 kilometres east of Loon Lake (0.9 hectares)

• 12 kilometres northeast of Pierceland (1 hectare)

• 7 kilometres east of Île-à-la-Crosse (5 hectares)

• 26 kilometres northeast of Buffalo Narrows (36.8 hectares)

For a regularly updated wildfire map in Saskatchewan, click here.

– With files from Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency

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logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann