The summer fire season isn’t quite over, but firefighting officials say activities in northern Saskatchewan are returning to normal.
At one point in July, dozens of fire departments from across the province responded to the request for help in fighting fires threatening the three communities in the La Ronge area.
They were accompanied by water bombers, helicopters, heavy machinery and even the Army.
Things have slowed down considerably since then, and the fire base set up at the La Ronge fair grounds is shut down.
John DeBruin, the senior fire manager in La Ronge, says officials are still keeping an eye on potential problem areas.
“The fires are being monitored and we have crews that are on the ground that are working areas where there has been hot spots detected and they’re digging them out and extinguishing them, there are some areas inside the fire line that are continuing to smoke,” he said.
One of the jobs now is gathering up equipment left in the bush during the summer. DeBruin explained how the public can play a role in that work.
“Some of it has been moved or removed during the fire season, so if there are people out there that have taken down any of our sprinkler set-ups or know where some are located they can help us out by calling our local fire base so that we can recover those and prepare them for the next fire season,” he said.
DeBruin says the number of out-of-town ground crews has dropped recently, but helicopters are still available if needed.