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There is some encouraging news from the province’s latest wildfire update.
While eight of the 25 active fires are still listed as not contained, two of the biggest blazes have not increased much in size since Wednesday. The northern half of the province is also expected to receive some rain this weekend.
The largest fire is still the SHOE fire, which is impacting Candle Lake, Piprell Lake, East Trout Lake and Lower Fishing Lakes. At 417,418 hectares, it covers an area more than 21 times the size of Saskatoon.
Crews continue to assess and protect values where the fire could potentially reach. They are also utilizing heavy equipment to establish control lines on the west flank to prepare for indirect attack and planned ignitions.
The Pisew fire near La Ronge is still over 141,000 hectares, but there are no reports of any further structure damage since Tuesday.
Crews are being placed at Hall Lake, Sucker River, Waden Bay, Bell’s Bay and in La Ronge and area for community protection. Dozers are constructing lines around spot fires near Hall Lake and building fire breaks in and around the town of La Ronge.
A Buckland Fire and Rescue tanker truck is shown on a highway after being deployed to La Ronge, Sask., on Monday, June 2, 2025, handout photo published to social media. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Facebook/Buckland Fire and Rescue
Another big fire is the one at Denare Beach (130,822 hectares), which in the past week has caused substantial losses. Air and ground crews are busy today working on the perimeter at Creighton. During the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) daily media briefing on Thursday, vice president of operations Steve Roberts said, crews managed to keep the Club fire from entering the town of Creighton on the western side.
While helicopter and ground crews work hot spots further away from the community, the Prince Albert Grand Council Fire Department is working to put out hot spots in Denare Beach.
In the last 24 hours, the wildfire north of Pelican Narrows has grown over 10,000 hectares to 30,428. Dozers are still putting up guards around the community and protection setups will continue within the Hamlet of Jan Lake.
The Ditch 2 fire north of Weyakwin is now listed at 90,000 hectares, which is a big jump from 70,000 on Wednesday. Late last night, the fire was creeping towards the community of Molanosa, but fire crews were able to stop it and save all the local structures, according to local leaders.
Crews will continue constructing the dozer guard from Ramsey Bay Road to Hwy 2 in preparation for a burn operation to protect the community of Ramsey Bay. Crews will also conduct full extinguishment of the Molanosa community, as well as continue constructing dozer guards within Timber Bay. Sprinklers will be distributed to required sites for value protection.
The Jaysmith fire (northeast of Missinipe) is at 136,876. Crews are looking to find an area to do backburns from east of Brabant on Highway 102 to NNE along Highway 102 North of Brabant and close Highway 102 at both ends, south and north.
So far this year, there have been 244 wildfires compared to the five-year average of 138.
In total, 267 values like cabins or trailers have been impacted by wildfires in Saskatchewan, but the SPSA believes that number is likely closer to 400.
