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Wildfire smoke has forced the closure of Highway 3 south of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan RCMP said on Monday afternoon.
The highway is closed to both south and northbound traffic due to low visibility and would be closed for an undetermined amount of time, RCMP said in a news release.
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As well, residents of the RM were advised of a pre-alert for possible evacuation after high winds and dry conditions were advancing the fire, burning along Elevator Road and Highway 3.
Residents of the RM of Prince Albert were advised of a pre-alert for possible evacuation after high winds and dry conditions were advancing the fire, burning along Elevator Road and Highway 3. (Nigel Maxwell/PA Now)
The alert said Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) is providing support to the municipality and while there was no immediate danger, residents are advised to stay alert and begin planning for a potential evacuation which could occur on short notice should the situation escalate.
It was suggested residents should prepare by organizing accommodations, ensuring vehicles are fuelled and assemble emergency kits and valuables ready for evacuation.
Police were advising travellers to find alternate routes and drive with caution in areas where there’s heavy smoke or a police presence.
The smoke is from a grass and bush fire burning between the new Yard District and Fairview Fairways golf course. The Rural Municipality of Prince Albert is currently under a fire ban.
Highway 3 is closed to both south and northbound traffic due to low visibility and would be closed for an undetermined amount of time, RCMP said. (Josh Donauer/Facebook)
There were 21 active wildfires burning in Saskatchewan on Monday.
SPSA said in its daily report on May 26 that 10 of those blazes were not contained, while another four of the fires were under ongoing assessment and and one was considered active, with action focused on cabins and infrastructure. Six fires were considered contained.
Contained means suppression action is taking place and the fire is not expected to grow in size, ongoing Assessment means the fire is being monitored regularly to assess risk to values in the area and not contained means suppression action is taking place but the fire is expected to grow in size, according to SPSA.
Active wildfires in Saskatchewan on May 26, 2025. (Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency)
As well, fire bans are active in 28 urban municipalities, 44 rural municipalities and 15 provincial parks in the province, with the fire danger considered extreme over much of the province and high in south of Saskatchewan.
SPSA says there have been 199 fires in Saskatchewan so far in 2025. The five-year average to date for Saskatchewan wildfires is 123.
Shoe fire now at 30,000 hectares in size
Prominent fires still burning on Monday were the Shoe, Camp, Jaysmith, Pisew, and Wolf fires.
The Shoe fire burning near Lower Fishing Lake is around 30,000 hectares in size and has forced the evacuations of the communities of Lower Fishing Lake, Piprell Lake, East Trout Lake, Little Bear Lake, and Whiteswan/Whelan Bay. It has also caused a pre-evacuation alert to be issued for the Resort Village of Candle Lake.
Both Narrow Hills Provincial Park and the East Trout-Nipekamew Lakes Recreation Site remain closed. A number of cabins and trailers in the area have been lost and multiple highways have been closed.
The Camp fire sits just north of Snowden and is now around 50,000 hectares in size. It’s caused Lower Fishing Lake to be evacuated, and the SPSA says that property and infrastructure have been lost.
The Jaysmith fire lies just north of Missinipe and is approximately 3,387 hectares in size. It caused Brabant Lake to be evacuated.
The Pisew fire west of La Ronge is 15,000 hectares in size. Hall Lake was evacuated and the fire was able to cross Hwy 165 and roads in that area have been closed.
The Wolf Fire west of Denare Beach led to the evacuation of the Mcllvenna Mine Site last week. It’s now reached a size of 6,385 hectares.
Situation in Piprell Lake ‘getting worse’
The residents of Piprell Lake, northeast of the resort village of Candle Lake, were forced to evacuate earlier this month because of the Shoe fire.
Shelly Lawrence, co-owner of Rainbow Lodge at Piprell Lake, said that fire crews are doing the best they can against less than ideal conditions.
“I think they are stretched so thin, and they are doing absolutely everything they can,” she said.
“I think it could take the whole entire summer due to no rain, no moisture and these winds. I think if the wind would die completely, then that would give the firefighters a handle on it to maybe get some control over it.”
Lawrence said that thanks to strong winds and dry weather, the fire situation is only getting worse.
“On Tuesday, May 6, the fire started close to us. We’re in the middle of the area. The fire started really close to us and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency did say we might have to evacuate. Then on Thursday afternoon, we were out. It was that fast,” she said.
She said that there has been some damage to the community, including to her business.
“We took some damage to our storage compound and we have a 41-site campground, and I was told that one burned to the ground,” she said.
Cabin owners in fire areas concerned
Cabin owners are facing anxiety and frustration as the wildfires continue to rage.
Matthew Siemens, runs the SaskLakes website, which normally poses as a guide for the province’s lakes but as of late has become a place for cabin owners to share information about the fires.
“I will give them what information I have,” he said. “I’m trying very hard at this point not to speculate when we don’t know what damage has occurred.”
Siemens started to regularly post photos of lakes on July 1, 2024, and has since then he has put a ton of his effort into growing the website.
He feels there is a real lack of information about many of the lakes in the province.
Siemens said he has been “flooded” with photos and videos of the wildfires and called it devastating.
“It’s really heartbreaking, there’s a lot of people (that) are having to change their summer plans,” he said.
“There’s people who are potentially losing these generational cabins that have been in their families for decades.”
Siemens said reactions have been mixed so far from people who have been affected.
“There’s some kind of a stoic response where people talk about how the boreal forest burns periodically and we have to just live with that,” he said.
“There is a frustration with not knowing, there’s a bit of a frustration with the response and why there’s not more resources being poured into these fires.”
Siemens said when people do reach out to him he tries to reassure them.
“I try to tell people to be patient, to wait,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do (and) if possible stay out of the area … we have to leave room for fire crews to work, it’s a scary situation for them and the last thing they need is people getting in their way.”
— with files from PA Now 980 CJME’s Roman Hayter and 650 CKOM’s Will Mandzuk
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