Category Archives: Forest Fires

Wildfire conditions are cause for concern this year as parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia report either significant drought or record low rainfall between January and April, experts say.  However, the severity of the wildfire season will depend on what kind of weather the next few months bring, they say. Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at the University of Alberta, said May is the busiest month for wildfires in Alberta, and June and July for the rest of Canada except for B.C. where it is August.  “It just doesn’t depend on June,” he said. “It depends on the weather during June, July and August.”  The recent trend, Flannigan said, has seen a decrease in the number of fires but an increase in the area burned caused by more lightning strikes.

WINNIPEG — Forest fires and smoke in Manitoba have forced the evacuations of hundreds of residents in five First Nations, including Lake St. Martin, Little Saskatchewan, Dauphin River, Pinaymootang and Skownan First Nations. “Overnight, the Red Cross was activated to support five First Nations in Manitoba that had to evacuate community members due to proximity of wildfires,” said Jason Small of the Canadian Red Cross. Currently, there are several wildfires burning across the province, including one in the R.M. of Grahamdale and one in Homebrook. …Small said they are still working out the exact number of evacuees, but noted it’s about 300 people from Lake St. Martin, 200 people from Little Saskatchewan, more than 100 people from Pinaymootang, and about 150 people from Skownan. He did not provide an estimate for the number of evacuees from Dauphin River.

Dry conditions and strong winds on Tuesday added fuel to the large Cloverdale wildfire near Prince Albert, Sask. As of 4:30 p.m. local time Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) reported that the wildfire is approximately 65 per cent contained. However, wind speeds and changing wind direction continue to make the situation challenging. Residents north of White Star Road are now allowed to return to their homes, according to the SPSA. Previously instated highway road closures remain in effect, as does the Prince Albert state of emergency.  The city, which is about 135 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, said the flames had forced the evacuation of at least 50 homes by late Tuesday afternoon. An immediate evacuation order was also issued Wednesday by the nearby Rural Municipality of Garden River for the Berg subdivision. A news release says the wildfire is an immediate threat and residents “must start evacuation immediately.”

A northern Saskatchewan city has declared a local state of emergency due to a fast-moving wildfire that’s forcing some residents to flee for safety. Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne told an online news conference late Monday about three dozen homes have been evacuated so far in the northeast part of the city. He said winds are blowing the fire away from Prince Albert, but if the winds shift, the city of about 35,000 could be in trouble. “We’re fighting a monster. That’s the best way to describe it. And it’s getting bigger,” Dionne said. …Dionne said the area of the fire was about two-and-a-half kilometres square. “It’s creating its own wind tunnel ahead of it, it’s got so large,” he said, noting preparations are underway in case more of the city is threatened. “At this point it’s in control. And so is the weather.”

While a weekend fire near the Sts’ailes First Nation is holding steady at 13 hectares, another fire across Harrison Lake has grown to 22 hectares and has been brought under control as of Tuesday afternoon.  The Harrison Lake fire was discovered on Sunday in the Silver River area and has been burning for at least two days. On Sunday, the initial report said the fire was one hectare in size, which grew to 16 on Monday and 22 hectares as of Tuesday morning. By the afternoon, the fire remained steady, umoving past the 22-hectare mark.  The Chehalis area fire is located 5.5 kilometres up Chehalis Forest Service Road and has been burning for three days; firefighters gained control of the blaze on Monday afternoon. With the fire burning north of Harrison Mills, smoke was visible as far away as Lake Errock and Chilliwack.

Harold Fisher is wondering if he’ll have a home to go back to.  Fisher had to evacuate his farm late Monday evening because of a large fire raging north of Prince Albert, Sask., about 135 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.  “When I left last night, the sky was red. It was red all across the east and to the south where I am. The sky was just on fire,” said Fisher, whose quarter section of land is on the edge of the Nisbet Forest along Cloverdale Road.  … Hundreds more people are on standby in case they too need to evacuate their homes.  The Cloverdale Fire, as it is now being called, started at about 2.30 p.m. CST on Monday.  By evening it had grown to more than four square kilometres and this morning had covered covers 3,694 hectares, said Steve Roberts, vice-president of operations for the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.

As an upper cold front sweeps across much of British Columbia, Environment Canada has issued a weather alert warning of lightning strikes in parts of the province. By 5 p.m PT, 995 lightning flashes had hit the central eastern region of B.C. over a 12-hour period according to Environment Canada. There were also isolated strikes over the Sunshine Coast and Fraser Valley. “We definitely expect to see continued lightning activity in the south Omineca area from Prince George and further into the Cariboo and into the Columbia Mountains,” said meteorologist Armel Castellan. The storms… have sparked concerns about wildfire activity as the season moves into its early stages. The B.C. Wildfire Service map of current fire risks in the province shows pockets of high to extreme danger in south central and eastern B.C., while approximately one quarter of the province has a moderate fire risk.

The city of Prince Albert has ordered residents in about 34 homes just north of the city to evacuate due to a wildfire. The evacuation order affects people in the rural municipality of Buckland, Sask, where the fire is raging. Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne said hundreds of people have been told to get ready to evacuate if the wind changes. The wildfire, which started at about 2.30 p.m. CT, had reached about four square kilometres in size by Monday evening, Dionne said. “We’re fighting a monster…it’s very dry out there,” Dionne said. “The problem is with a fire of this size, it starts to create its own wind in the front of it as it burns. So that even makes it worse and more dangerous.” He said the fire is at the mercy of the weather, including high winds, scheduled for Tuesday.

Water bombers and helicopters could be seen tackling a wildfire burning north of Prince Albert by the pulp mill Saturday afternoon.  Buckland Fire and Rescue confirmed to paNOW that they had crews at the scene too, but details are still scarce, including how big the fire grew and what caused it. There were reports on social media that lightning had gone through the area.  Witnesses submitted video showing the flames picking up around 5 p.m. but by 8 p.m. the billowing smoke had settled. 

WINNIPEG — As multiple wildfires burn out of control in Manitoba, the province is adding more fire and travel restrictions and banning campfires effective immediately. As of Thursday evening, six wildfires were burning out of control in Manitoba… “There are drought conditions across much of southern Manitoba, which can allow wildfires to spread out of control quickly and challenge the ability to fight multiple fires at the same time,” the province said Thursday. “Human-caused fires are preventable and put people and communities unnecessarily at risk.” The province is putting level two restrictions across much of the province, which bans motorized backcountry travel unless with a travel permit, prohibits campfires, restricts camping to developed campgrounds, and restricts landing and launching to developed shorelines only. Along with this, the province is closing all backcountry trails and water routes to the public in all provincial parks south of the 53rd parallel until further notice.

FORT MCMURRAY — Crews are on the scene of a blaze in the Fort McMurray Forest Area (FMFA). Sunday night, Alberta Wildfire responded to a new fire close to Beacon Hill. The fire is currently classified as being held, meaning it is not expected to grow past the established boundaries of half a hectare. A crew of four wildland firefighters, accompanied by two helicopters and local fire crews, is attempting to extinguish the fire. This is currently the only active wildfire in the FMFA. Since wildfire season began on March 1, there have been nine wildfires burning a total area of 5.7 hectares. Across the Forest Protection Area (FPA) of Alberta, there are 17 active wildfires, with 232 since the season began. So far, province-wide 888.55 hectares of land have been scorched by wildfires this year.

WINNIPEG — An out of control fire is burning near the community of Sandilands, Man. about 100 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg. According to the province’s latest fire bulletin, Manitoba Wildfire Service crews and water bombers are working with local resources to extinguish the fire. The province said the cause of the fire is under investigation, but according to the province’s fire tracker, the blaze was sparked by human activity. The size of the fire is estimated to be 800 hectares as of Sunday evening. In an update on Facebook, the RM of Piney said the municipality remains under a state of emergency, however no homes or people are currently at risk. 

KAMLOOPS – More than twenty homes northwest of Merritt are the subject of an Evacuation Alert. The homes are threatened by the Petit Creek wildfire, which grew to 100 hectares yesterday under windy conditions. The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) says 23 firefighters and two helicopters battled the fire Sunday. Efforts are underway to build road access into the area to allow for more resources to attack the blaze. The BCWS says the fire is located approximately 18 kilometres northeast of Merritt and is likely human-caused. …There are 13 active fires burning in the the Kamloops Forest District. The largest is the Spahomin Creek fire at 500 hectares. It’s located south of Douglas Lake. It is not threatening any homes at this time.

The first of 11 Dash 8 Q400 aircrafts have arrived in Abbotsford and Conair Group Inc. will soon begin the conversion into airtankers engineered specifically for aerial firefighting.  The craft will eventually transform into the Q400AT, which is considered to be the most advanced airtanker in the world today.  The aircraft will be modified from Conair’s hangars in Abbotsford by their team of aerospace specialists. The modification process will begin this quarter and is scheduled to be completed in time for North America’s wildfire season, taking approximately 75 calendar days to convert. …Conair has been modifying the Q400 into airtankers since 2005, operating the first Q400AT in Australia this past bushfire season and providing a multi-role variant, the Q400MR, to France for the past 15 years.

The wildfire season in Alberta ended on Oct. 31 and fire permits are no longer required for burning. “However, people are still responsible for any fires they ignite in the winter,” says Leah Lovequist, wildfire information officer for the Slave Lake Forest Area under Alberta Agriculture and Forestry …“Overall, the wildfire season in Alberta was quieter than past seasons…,’ Lovequist says. Wildland firefighters in the Slave Lake Forest Area fought 69 wildfires that burned 278 hectares from March 1 to Oct. 31. “Although Alberta experienced drier conditions in the fall in the southern parts of the province, the number of wildfires and hectares burned are much lower than the five-year average. Over the past five years, the forest area recorded an average of 149 wildfires that burned 50,253 hectares. Alberta recorded 705 wildfires in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta that burned a total of 3,265 hectares. …More than 80 per cent of the wildfires in 2020 in Alberta were determined to be human-caused.