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After a wildfire season in Northern Saskatchewan that started fast and furiously in May, the season is slowly heading toward a close.
Steve Roberts, vice-president of operations with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, said it’ll still be a while before the end of the season.
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“We have a lot of fire on the landscape that isn’t out yet. It’s contained; it’s being monitored. There’s lots of work to be done,” explained Roberts.
He said the lower temperatures at night – single-digit and freezing temperatures – have been helping with the fight against the wildfires that are still burning.
Roberts said the fire crews have already been extended to keep working until the end of September.
As the days march toward winter, Roberts said most of the fires will be put out if they’re small enough, and others will be contained until they’re out. Roberts said it’s rare to see wildfires in Saskatchewan that burn through the winter.
Once the season is behind them, Roberts said the agency will perform an after-action review. They’ll look at the incidents to consider fire behaviour and talk to national partners about their experiences.
Roberts said the review will address a number of questions, like how the agency managed the evacuation process, how it managed setting the priorities for the response, and when to call in extra resources.
“There were questions about the military and why was the military not called first, rather than second,” said Roberts.
In the future, Roberts said there will be more resources to call on, as Saskatchewan recently joined with Nevada and California in a firefighting compact.
As of noon on Monday, there were 36 active wildfires in the province, two of which weren’t contained.
So far in 2025, there have been 485 wildfires in the province – more than the five-year average of 425, but 91 fewer than this time in 2024.
