'We cannot slow down': wildfire efforts continue as rain persists in Sask.
Cool temperatures and light rainfall has slowed down many of the wildfires burning in northern Saskatchewan and officials with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) said some residents may be able to return home in the coming days.
However, firefighters continue to battle the flames and 24 wildfires are burning in the province.
"We cannot slow down, and we're not going to slow down," said Marlo Pritchard, the agency's president and fire commissioner.
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As of Sunday afternoon, 33 communities have been evacuated. Weyakwin is the only community that has had their evacuation order lifted and that happened on Thursday.
Meanwhile, overnight Saturday up to 24 millimetres of rain fell in parts of Saskatchewan, and with lower temperatures expected to continue, fire crews are looking to "take advantage of this small window of opportunity" while the fire intensity is lower, Pritchard said.
The province has already hired some Type 3 firefighters, who are generally temporary workers with basic firefighting training, to assist in wildfire efforts.
"I really want to call on community leaders, those community leaders that have Type 3 firefighters, to start getting names of those that have qualified," said Pritchard.
Bryan Chartrand, SPSA executive director of land operations, said the growth of uncontained wildfires is beginning to ease.
He noted the Shoe fire – which covers areas around East Trout Lake, Pipprell Lake and Lower Fishing Lake — received about 22 millimetres of rain and has not grown any further. It is just under 500,000 hectares in size.
This comes days after nearby Candle Lake put a voluntary evacuation order into effect as fast-moving fires approached the community.
The rainfall and continued firefighting efforts have dampened the fire, which is still about 10 kilometres west of the community. For now, Candle Lake authorities have said their community is out of danger.
La Ronge, which is also nearby, had 24 millimetres of rain on Saturday, Chartrand said. Crews are observing hot spots and residents may be able to return in the coming days.
"We continue to work and set up fire guards," Chartrand said, adding they want to make sure areas are protected in case there's more hot, dry weather and the fires pick up again.
The province is hopeful the wildfire surrounding Pelican Narrows will soon be contained and that the community will be open for residents to return home. Chartrand said there haven't been any threatened areas for a number of days now.
While many areas are beginning to see improvement, the Wolf fire affecting communities like Denare Beach and Creighton, is still a source of concern for the province. Temperatures have been lower in the area, but there has not been enough rainfall to decrease the intensity of the fire, he said.
Crews remain in the community tending to hot spots and are actively working to repair the fibre optics affecting cellular service.
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The province has also said verification teams are expected to be deployed over the next couple of days to start "that challenging task and very sad task" of identifying what properties were lost due to the wildfires.
Currently, the SPSA has confirmed 290 of the 400 so-called values, which refers to residents' lodges, equipment, boats, and trailers, have been reported as lost.
There have been 254 wildfires in Saskatchewan so far this year, well above the five-year average of 143 for this date.
The SPSA announced there have been no new human starts to fires. At the same time, the provincewide fire ban will remain in effect and be reassessed as weather conditions change.
Financial assistance is being increased for wildfire evacuees in Saskatchewan, the province announced Saturday.
In a SPSA news release earlier Saturday, the province said it is raising the daily amount provided to the head of each household to $40 per day, from $20.
Additional members of a household will now get $20 per day, up from $10, the agency said, to a new daily maximum for evacuees of $200 per day.
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Thumbnail courtesy of Trevor Phenix via CBC.
This article, written by Aliyah Marko-Omene, was originally published for CBC News.