NORTHERN SASK. — After a brief flare-up, cooler conditions are again aiding firefighters in efforts to quell wildfires in the North.
According to the latest numbers Tuesday morning from Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, there are 33 active fires — a much lower number than what has been seen in previous weeks. The total fires to date have been 485, ahead of the five year average of 426.
Of the current fires, six are contained, two are not contained, 23 are ongoing assessment and two are protecting values.
The two fires not contained are the Trail and Muskeg fires in the northwest, both south of Ile-a-la-Crosse. Those are the two fires that flared up earlier in the month.
At the moment, SPSA says there are no evacuation incidents that the SPSA is currently responding to.
On Monday, SPSA vice president of operations Steve Roberts was asked about where things stood and he noted the cooler conditions were helping, particularly at night.
“Our numbers are coming down. Nights are cooler,” said Roberts.
“Obviously, we're seeing some single digits and some freezing temperatures. We still have crews on a number of fires, but almost all our fires are now listed as contained, and all of our communities have returned home. We have no evacuees out at this time.”
As for whether this could be the end of the season, Roberts said “it'll be a while.”
“We have a lot of fire on the landscape that isn't out yet…There's lots of work to be done. So, we've already extended our own crews into the latter part of September, knowing that there's still work to be done here.”
Most of the fires will go out, Roberts said. “Again, some we'll put out if they're small enough. Some will be contained until they go out, but rarely have we seen fires that actually burn through the winter…
"So, we may see large fires that are thousands of hectares that only have one or two smoke areas pop up, and we'll send a crew in there to extinguish that so it doesn't cause a threat, and then we'll continue to monitor right into the fall.”
As for preparation for next fire season, Roberts said they typically do after-action reviews internally on best practices and how to improve for next year.
“It is normal for us to do what's called an after-action review and say what can we do differently next year to address some of those bottlenecks we saw in 2025.”
He said the questions they will be considering will range from how they manage the evacuation process and the setting of priorities for responses, to at what point do they bring in external resources like from other provinces.
Roberts also pointed to a recent announcement that both Nevada and California have joined with Saskatchewan in a firefighting compact agreement for the future. “Now potentially if it was to re-occur, resources from Nevada and California could join the efforts in Saskatchewan.”
