July 12 8:30 pm
East winds helped some firefighting efforts near La Ronge, but they also stirred things up in some locations.
The Lynx fire, which has closed Highway 915 off and on for days, picked up heat today and moved southwest, much closer to Highway 102.
It threatened to interfere with a planned re-entry of residents to communities farther north, but vehicles headed to Grandmother’s Bay and beyond have gotten through.
With evacuation buses still expected tonight, the total movement should include about 190 people.
Unfortunately, Stanley Mission residents were prevented from heading home by the fire, and are housing at the Jonas Roberts Centre on Far Reserve of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band.
At La Ronge, the Egg fire remained stable – burning, but not approaching – on established fronts.
However, the west flank began to grow an arm down between the Bigstone and Egg lakes.
Firefighters and air attack worked on that arm, but additional plans for a bulldozer line ran into heavy bog.
Wildfire Management plans to put a heavy helicopter on that arm tomorrow, to prevent the fire from moving south and threatening the neighbouring communities of Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, and Highway 2.
Highway 165 is now closed east and west of La Ronge, with the Carey fire picking up heat to the east in the Wapawekka area.
Tomorrow, SaskPower will continue to replace damaged poles north of La Ronge.
A planned outage will take place 9:30 a.m. to noon, affecting communities north of La Ronge in the Lac La Ronge area.
For more information, monitor MBC radio, Town of La Ronge website, and the social media sites of local leadership including https://www.facebook.com/town.laronge or https://www.facebook.com/TammyCookSearson
Posted on behalf of the Emergency Operations Centre for Town La Ronge, Village of Air Ronge, and Lac La Ronge Indian Band.