Forest fire burns uncontained near Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Sask.
All non-essential personnel have been evacuated due to the fire, Cameco said in a statement
The Cameco Corporation has reported a forest fire in the vicinity of its Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan.
In a statement Thursday morning, the company said it has evacuated about 230 workers from the mine and roughly 80 people remain on site to keep the facility in a safe state.
Cameco said, should the wildfire threat continue to grow, there is a plan to keep the workers there safe and a number of precautions have been implemented. It said it's working closely with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency on site.
Cameco said the fire is complicated by extremely warm, dry weather resulting from the heat dome currently over Western Canada.
Production at the Cigar Lake mine has been temporarily suspended.
'In case anything happens. I love you'
Moriah Dyck heard on Wednesday from her fiancé, who works at the site, that there were fires threatening the mine and it was starting to look worrisome.
"He didn't know what was going to happen and that preceded a long line of text messages and phone calls. Well, the phone calls had to stop because he couldn't even breathe," she said.
Her fiancé is a volunteer firefighter and volunteered to stay behind while others were evacuated, she said. They texted to stay in touch and he texted her, "In case anything happens. I love you and our baby."
"They were surrounded and they couldn't make it to water," Dyck said. "They were trying to call in choppers or radio choppers to come."
At about 5:10 p.m. CST, she said the mine was shut down, and five water bombers arrived to help about an hour later.
"Unfortunately, [his] phone died in the midst of all of that. I didn't hear from him until like nine o'clock this morning," Dyck said. "I was pretty much up all night thinking he was dead."
It was a long mess of a night but her fiancé texted her after charging his phone this morning, and she said the fight continues.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which regulates the mine, tweeted that it is monitoring the situation and will provide updates.
As of early Thursday afternoon, the provincial government's website listed 19 active fires across Saskatchewan. Five are not contained, including the Briggs fire near the Cigar Lake mine.