The ground crews will be doing the bulk of the work on the forest fire lines today.
Heavy smoke is hampering the fighting of wildfires that are threatening some communities in northern Saskatchewan.
Today, Premier Brad Wall has been in La Ronge where he got a tour of the fire line and then met with a group of firefighters ready to get back at it.
He used a football analogy to give them a little boost.
“It’s football season in Saskatchewan and when you can’t pass, you’ve got to run the ball and you guys are the ground game,” he said. “So I don’t know today if there will be many helicopters and planes up, so we’re going to need you again. So have a very safe day.”
The premier was also scheduled to attend an emergency meeting of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band today.
Chief Tammy Cook-Searson says one issue she hopes to raise is the need for more training for northern fire fighters.
“These fires throughout northern Saskatchewan, they started in June and this is only the beginning of the season and we could potentially be facing a long fire season,” she says. “So with the current dry conditions, (we could be) employing our local resources. Because a lot of people have firefighting experience, but maybe they don’t have the certification that’s required to go firefighting. But they have the experience and they know the land.”
About 600 personnel are now on the ground fighting fires in northern Saskatchewan.
La Ronge Mayor Thomas Sierzycki says he has been hearing from many people wondering when they can come back home.
“Health officials are in constant contact with Chief Tammy, with myself, with the group that are making some of the decisions,” he says. “The last thing we want to do is bring home people prematurely. And, unfortunately, that may be one or two extra days that people are away from their homes, which is hard on the heart and hard on the mind.”
Today’s forecast in the La Ronge area includes a chance of showers and thunderstorms, but also a west wind gusting to 50 km/h at times.
The province estimates the wildfires have forced more than 5,000 people from their homes.
Fifty-one towns, villages and reserves had been evacuated or partially-evacuated as a precaution.
Crews were managing to keep fires out of the communities, although flames did reach the edges of Montreal Lake and Weyakwin.
(with files from The Canadian Press)