UPDATE – At last word (4:30 pm), SaskPower was close to repairing the damage around the Montreal Lake area. Tyler Hopson says services crews spent all day working to solve the problem and it was expected to be rectified by 5 pm. Meanwhile, SaskEnergy says the natural gas is back on in the Montreal Lake Cree Nation. Spokesperson Vanessa Beaupre says the gas was turned off for precautionary reasons but services have since resumed. At last word, the communities of Weyakwin and Ramsey Bay remained without natural gas.
SaskEnergy has turned the natural gas off to at least three northern communities affected by fires.
Utility Spokesperson Vanessa Beaupre says this is done as a safety precaution.
“We shut off gas in Weyakwin, so that has affected 21 customers, Ramsey Bay which affects 82 customers, and overnight we shut down the Timber Bay town border station as a contingency for fire risk at the Montreal Lake area” she adds “we were able to continue to provide service with the gas that was shut in there that was underground”.
Meanwhile the fire has also affected power to the Montreal Lake Cree Nation.
SaskPower spokesperson Jonathan Tremblay says they don’t know when they will be able to fix the problem.
“It’s still not safe for our workers to actually go assess what the damage is and turn it back on>’ he adds “the community is evacuated therefore the power outage doesn’t affect there but as soon as it is safe we are going to go back in and re-establish power service”.
Currently the utility services in La Ronge remain unaffected.