Public advised to not go near Besnard Lake, Sask., due to fast-moving, intense fire

Wildfires continued to burn in northern Saskatchewan Tuesday.

As the fires blazed on, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) told members of the public to stay away from the area of Besnard Lake, located about 360 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.

According to the SPSA, the wildfire is extremely intense and fast-moving.

There were 29 active fires in Saskatchewan as of Tuesday, with nine contained, 13 in ongoing assessment, one with firefighters protecting property and six not contained.

La Ronge, Sask., is about 55 kilometres southeast of Besnard Lake. Fire Chief Keaton Cloud said there is some smoke in La Ronge, but the main concern is the wind.

"There's no direct fire threats here, but there is a concern for if there was a fire to start in our area, it would quickly overwhelm our resources," said Cloud. 

La Ronge and two surrounding communities have fire bans in place due to the conditions.

Cloud said that with precipitation expected, he is hopeful the fires can be contained. La Ronge is expected to have showers overnight and again on Wednesday.

Although Cloud doesn't believe the fires will be a problem for La Ronge, he said crews have assembled their emergency operation centres as a precautionary measure.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) rates La Ronge's air as moderate, but there are "air scrubber" locations near La Ronge where people can go for cleaner air if needed. 

SaskPower crews rebuild

According to SaskPower spokesperson Scott McGregor, 2,500 customers faced power outages in the area between Buffalo Narrows and Île-à-la-Crosse, as fires burned down power poles and transmission lines.

McGregor said crews are working to rebuild the power poles by sometime this afternoon.

"We expect to have the remaining structures set up and ready to go by this afternoon," said McGregor. "Then we should be putting up new conductor wire later this afternoon."

He said the situation is still "very fluid" and that SaskPower doesn't want to push crews beyond their limits, as conditions are difficult to work in.

"Conditions have been very, very heavy smoke, very low visibility, so the the conditions are very harsh for our crews to be working in right now," said McGregor.

SaskPower has been using helicopters to assess the damage. 

Record temperatures

Northern Saskatchewan saw record temperatures across four different regions on Monday. 

A warm air mass over Saskatchewan brought the record breaking temperatures.

One of the oldest records to be broken was in the Nipawin area, where it was 29 C, breaking a record of 27.1 C set in 1978.

The hottest region was the Meadow Lake area at 29.2 C.