Some wildfire evacuees in Saskatoon could soon return home

The Métis-Nation Saskatchewan has been supporting around 500 wildfires evacuees at hotels in Saskatoon as wildfires burned near their communities — but some are ready to return home.

The northern village of Île-à-la-Crosse is rescinding its evacuation order on Wednesday based on advice from health professionals and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency. Its emergency declaration is in place until May 28.

Shirley Isbister, the president of Central Urban Métis Federation Inc., says it's been challenging for some evacuees to be away from home.

"It's really hard to come from a northern community and then be cooped up in a room with anywhere from maybe two to six children or maybe higher than that," Isbister said on Wednesday.

"It's been over a week [for some evacuees], but things are starting to look a little bit better today. Hopefully today and tomorrow some evacuees will be able to go home. People are anxious to get home."  

Isbister said that some higher risk individuals will remain in Saskatoon until the air quality improves near their communities.

She added she's heard that people have lost cabins and other infrastructure.

WATCH | Father-son firefighting duo save cabin from wildfire in Saskatchewan's north:

Father-son firefighting duo saves cabin from wildfire in Saskatchewan's north

2 years ago

Duration 1:58

"I told my dad, I said, 'If we don't back burn, it's going to burn down,'" said Clarence McCallum, a firefighter who teamed up with his retired firefighter father to save their family's nearly three-decade-old cabin on Churchill Lake in northern Saskatchewan from a nearby wildfire.

Isbister is grateful for the outpouring of donations the Central Urban Métis Federation Inc. received for the evacuees in need. 

"There's so many things that when you leave home quickly, you don't have the opportunity to take, so those are the kind of donations we were looking for," Isbister said. 

"Our community has really gathered, and any donations that we have left over, those will be stored because we're only in May, this is an early start to forest fires."

Isbister said some donations included diapers, strollers, toothbrushes and toothpaste, among other necessities. She added that the Central Urban Métis Federation Inc. is continuing to accept donations so they will be ready for future disasters.

Provincial fire ban lifts

As of 2 p.m CST on Wednesday, there were 24 wildfires burning throughout the province, including five that were not contained, according to the latest bulletin issued by Saskatchewan's Public Safety Agency's intelligence and situational awareness unit. 

Due to recent rain and cooler weather, the SPSA is lifting the provincial fire ban for all crown lands, provincial parks and the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District north of Highway 16. The ban had been in place since May 16. 

"We will be managing the fire risk by the provincial parks, continuing to look at burn bans and restrictions and the northern municipalities will continue to monitor and restrict activities related to fires in their northern communities," Steve Roberts, SPSA's vice president of operations, said at a press conference Wednesday. 

"That will resolve most of the potential for human-caused fires in that northern area without having to have a provincial fire ban in place."

Environment and Climate Change Canada special air quality statements remain in effect for parts of northern Saskatchewan.

As of 1 p.m. CST, air quality in the Buffalo Narrows area was rated high risk and is expected to stay that way through Thursday night. 

There are now pairs of air scrubbers in Jans Bay, Île-à-la-Crosse., Beauval, Dillon St George's Hill and Buffalo Narrows. The SPSA says 10 more air scrubbers are on the way to communities in Northern Saskatchewan — with six going to Île-à-la-Crosse.

"We typically would assign two of these air scrubber units to something the size of a a gymnasium or a community rec centre and they would be able to purify and keep that air free of large particulates," Roberts said.

"So they're large industrial units, they're not small, but they can do a large volume and because they run 24 hours a day, they keep that air clean for folks who can come and go as they need."

Roberts says the heavier rain missed the most of the fires, but the cooler weather has been helpful in the firefighting efforts.

"The fire behaviour is much reduced. [Weather] does allow both equipment crews and aircraft to get into the fire farther to do more controls, put more established lines in place," Roberts said. "It also means that many of the fires do not make large excursions."

Roberts added the fires haven't grown significantly in the past 24 hours due to the change in weather.

The SPSA is continuing to support evacuees from several northern villages and First Nations in Regina, Lloydminster and North Battleford. 

The SPSA is advising travelers to avoid the areas in and around the Smith fire and the McCrae fire until further notice. Those fires are located north and northeast of Churchill river.