REGINA — It is July in Canada, and the familiar smell of smoke is back in the air.
Forest fire smoke has blanketed Saskatchewan the last couple of days, with almost the whole province having to deal with the stench from wildfires burning up north on Canada.
The forecast on Firesmoke.ca for July 2 indicates some clearing of conditions in the southwest and part of the east, but otherwise it promises to be more of the same smoke conditions for most of the province during the morning before it clears later in the day. However the smoke is expected to return tomorrow.
The smoke made its way to southern Saskatchewan, with Regina residents noticing the smell during Canada Day festivities outdoors. But the most notable impact has been on northern communities including La Ronge.
At a news conference with the SPSA on Tuesday, officials were asked about the conditions in the La Ronge area and they confirmed it was wildfires in Saskatchewan, not those impacting hard-hit areas like the Northwest Territories, that were causing the issue.
Bryan Chartrand, executive director of land operations said “essentially, yes, those would be our fires.”
“A lot of the larger fires to the northeast of La Ronge, that would be drifting in with the northeast winds that we've been receiving the last few days and will continue to for the next couple of days as well, as this low front continues to move past the province and is now entering Manitoba.”
Fires contributing to the situation, according to Chartrand, include several in the northwest including the Church Fire, Colt Fire, Hill Fire, McInnis Fire, as well as the McDonald, Gulak, SEIR01 fire, and various other ones north of those locations as well.
“There's a large cluster of lightning-started fires within that vicinity of Southend, and so that's what everybody would be experiencing there,” said Chartrand.
Officials confirmed that a significant difference from last year to this year is that last year at this time there had been more human-start fires. This year there have been a few human starts, but a majority so far has been lightning caused including all of the current fires right now.
The smoke has not prompted evacuations yet, but the SPSA said Tuesday they are in communication with Peter Ballantyne, Prince Albert Grand Council, and the communities of Sandy Bay, Southend, and Wollaston Lake to support those communities in case the smoke situation does get worse.
