Parts of Hwy 102 to be Temporarily Closed

Parts of Hwy 102 to be Temporarily Closed

Thursday, July 07, 2011 at 13:21

Saskatchewan Environment officials plan to temporarily close a northern highway that’s been threatened by a forest fire.

The 9,200 hectare McAvoy fire was within half a mile of Highway 102, 40 kilometres north of Missinipe, at one point yesterday.

The fire never crossed the road, but the highway was shut down for three hours yesterday because of poor visibility caused by the smoke.

However, easterly winds today are expected to push the fire away from the highway.

Environment officials are going to use the opportunity to do some backburning on the blaze.

They say the road will likely be closed briefly this afternoon from Km 97 (just north of Grandmothers Bay turn off) to Km 130 (Bears Camp) to accommodate that work, but they expect that will be the last time they need to shut it down.