Officials with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and province continue to monitor the forest fire situation in Stanley Mission.
Yesterday, over 200 people were moved out of the community when two fires came dangerously close to local buildings.
Duane McKay, Saskatchewan’s Commissioner of Emergency Management and Fire Safety, says the wildfires were battled both from air and ground.
“The fire real close to Stanley Mission was called the Lagoon fire, and they managed to knock it down from the top of the trees to the ground and they have that one contained, that has removed the immediate threat to the community and they’ll be mopping that up over the next day or so,” he says.
McKay says smoke in the area has been a concern and a number of agencies have been involved in the evacuation effort.
“Provincial Red Cross is up there, rapid response teams from the province are there and we are coordinating with all of the provincial authorities to make sure that the band has all of the support that they require.”
He adds conditions are very dry across the north.
A second fire, just north of Pelican Narrows, forced officials to close Highway 135 Wednesday.
The highway was re-opened Wednesday night but the blaze has since grown to 500 hectares.
Val Nicholson, an official with the Prince Albert Fire Centre, says with the warm and dry weather the number of reported fires continues to grow.
“There are 12 fires burning in the province today, seven that aren’t contained which is about the same as yesterday,” she says. “We’ve had 115 fires to date this year but 62 have been in the last seven days so as the temperature comes up we can see that things do dry out and people really should be cautious.”
Nicholson says helicopters and ground crews continue fighting the fire north of Pelican Narrows.