200 wildfire evacuees at Evraz Place in Regina moving to Saskatoon

An estimated 200 people living in temporary quarters at Evraz Pace in Regina due to wildfires in the north are being moved to shelters in Saskatoon.

According to government officials, the Evraz Place shelter is being closed and everyone there will be moved, starting Wednesday morning.

Space has been made for them at the Henk Ruys and SaskTel soccer centres in Saskatoon.

Officials said only the people at Evraz place were being moved. Others, who are staying at the University of Regina, will remain on the campus.

According to a statement from the government, many of the evacuees were keen to move.

"Our declining evacuee numbers show us that some evacuee families are beginning to move north to be closer to their other family members and communities," the statement said. "We had planned to move evacuees from the Regina Evraz facility in order to eventually support them in the eventual reunification with their families – once their communities are cleared."
 
Officials from the province and the Red Cross shared the move plans with community leaders and evacuees just before the supper hour.

"Evacuees will be provided with transportation and information regarding the leave-times for their transportation but if all goes according to plan, travel will start in the morning and be completed shortly after lunch," the government noted.

"This is only moving folks closer to home, until local evacuation orders are lifted," the statement added. "This is not a lifting of any evacuation orders. That will happen separately as communities are deemed safe for return."

There were 125 fires burning in the province as of Tuesday morning. The fires have burned nearly 5,000 square kilometres of forest — more than 10 times the average number — and destroyed about 80 homes, most of them seasonal cabins.

More than 1,500 firefighters are in the region, including military.