The province is recommending against all non-essential travel to northern Saskatchewan due to the high number of wildfires in the region.
As of Friday, there were 137 active fires in the province.
This is five more than the previous day.
There has also been a total of 382 fires so far this year in Saskatchewan – 170 above the five-year average.
Steve Roberts is the vice-president of operations with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.
“The intent is to curtail non-essential traffic to the north,” he said. “Again, many highways in the northern part of the province will be impacted directly by fire or smoky conditions. So, we’re sending out a general warning advisory to anyone who’s planning to travel that could impact their activities in the north.”
As of Friday afternoon, highways closed due to the fires included Highway 2 south of La Ronge, Highway 102 north of La Ronge, Highway 106 north of the Highway 55 junction, Highway 123 near Cumberland House, Highway 165 north and Highway 905 near the Highway 102 junction.
Roberts said shifting winds in the past 24 hours are driving smoke from the fires north to south and affecting air quality in Prince Albert, Saskatoon and even as far as Regina.
The fires are also affecting both power and telephone services in a number of communities.
SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry said a fire burning in the far northeast has knocked out power in both the Hatchet Lake/Wollaston Lake areas.
At the same time, SaskTel spokesperson Lindsay Mazenc added fires have disrupted telephone services in nine northern communities.
“The communities we are specifically referring to are Collins Bay, Southend, Stony Rapids, Wollaston Lake, Grandmother’s Bay, Missinipe, Brabant Lake, McLean Lake and Cigar Lake and the surrounding communities that are served by those exchanges,” she said.
A new fire burning northeast of Candle Lake caused the evacuation of residents in Whelan Bay on Thursday.
Roberts said 58 local firefighters have been added to provincial crews but as of yet Saskatchewan has not had to bring in firefighters from other provinces.
However, he did say an air tanker has been borrowed from the Northwest Territories and is currently in La Ronge.
For more information on the fires and road closures go to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency and Saskatchewan Highways Hotline websites.