Provincial officials are hopeful a call for rain Thursday dampens the threat of wildfires around Saskatchewan
As of Wednesday afternoon, there are 14 active fires in Saskatchewan including the Tuff Fire in the Meadow Lake Provincial Park.
However, Saskatchewan Wildfire Management chief climatologist Henri Dagenais says showers that are expected to begin around noon Thursday will hopefully lessen some of the existing threat.
“The low pressure will continue toward northern Saskatchewan and we expect there to be showery conditions,” he says. “So there’s going to be a hit and miss in the precipitation and we are hoping it will be more of a hit over the fire.”
Dagenais says the intermittent showers are expected to begin in the Prince Albert area before moving northward.
The low pressure zone will be coming out of Montana.
Thirty-five residents of the Waterhen Lake First Nation remain housed in Saskatoon due to smoke concerns from the Tuff Fire.
This fire remains at 6,500 hectares in size.
Of the wildfires burning in the province, six are uncontained.
A new fire also broke out east of the Candle Lake Provincial Park near Hwy 106 on Wednesday.
Due to low humidity and dry conditions, fire bans remain in place on Crown lands and provincial parks south of the Churchill River with the exception of Cypress Hills.
(PHOTO: Fire map. Photo courtesy of Government of Saskatchewan.)