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Saskatchewan is welcoming dozens of international visitors for the sole purpose of firefighting.
In a statement, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) shared that 40 Australian firefighters have already landed in the province, with another 40 from Mexico arriving sometime this week.
SPSA Vice President Steve Roberts said Saskatchewan can get these crews, “because their fire season is a different season than ours.”
Read more:
- Waskesiu businesses, visitors not concerned about wildfire threat near community
- Buhl Fire still not close enough to Waskesiu to issue evacuation alert, Parks Canada says
- Wildfires merging into larger blazes, says SPSA president
The extra help is a benefit of the firefighting partnerships Canada has with a variety of countries, according to Roberts, which include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico.
Even with the international support, he said the priority is always using the closest resource, relying on Saskatchewan firefighters first.
“We will then use Canadian resources. Then we’ll be looking at our near-neighbour partners in the U.S. And then if we have to go farther, we will,” Roberts said.
This year’s wildfire season, which has already surpassed last year’s in terms of number of fires just seven months in, necessitated going further.
In addition to international fire crews, Quebec sent two aircrafts and an additional 100 wildfire personnel last week, according to Public Safety Minister Tim McLeod (Rob Klassen/Carlyle Fire and Rescue)
People are part of the wildfire problem
While lightning strikes are partly to blame for the number of active fires burning, Roberts said people are also responsible.
“We have had to respond to fires that have been left behind by campers, by people active in the forest,” he said, mentioning how some are ignoring the fire ban.
Roberts couldn’t say if any of these human-caused fires were criminal in nature, but he did assure they’d be investigated by the SPSA.
In the meantime, Roberts urged people to practice caution and avoid being the reason behind another wildfire.
Fires in Saskatchewan on July 16
As of 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16, 48 active wildfires burned in Saskatchewan.
Ten of those blazes were not contained, with another 17 under ongoing assessment and firefighters were protecting values in 15. 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. Protecting values means a fire is active and action is focused on protecting things like cabins and infrastructure.
One of the fires continuing to burn is the Buhl fire in Prince Albert National Park, which prompted a pre-evacuation alert in Waskesiu from Parks Canada.
While it’s not under the SPSA’s jurisdiction, Roberts said the fire isn’t directly threatening the community for the time being, but people need to be prepared to leave in case conditions change.
There are 1,100 wildfire evacuees in the province, according to SPSA President Marlo Pritchard, with eight communities under evacuation.
Over 530 of those individuals are from Beauval, where the community is currently threatened by the Muskeg Fire.
So far this year, there have been 372 wildfires, which is nearly 20 more wildfires than Saskatchewan had in the entirety of 2024. The five-year average is 273.
