People living in Pelican Narrows, 400 kilometres northeast of Prince Albert, Sask., are being told to leave the community immediately as a wildfire burns dangerously close to town and threatens road access.
“It’s a single road that goes south to Hanson Lake Road. The fire itself, when the winds shift late tonight or early tomorrow, it’s going to drive that fire toward the access road into Pelican Narrows,” said Chief Peter Beatty of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN), which includes Pelican Narrows.
“That’s why we’re trying to get people out of the community, as many people as we can today.”
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Wildfires have been burning in the area for weeks, and hundreds of people have already been moved to centres in Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Flin Flon, Beatty said.
As the fire moved closer to the town of 4,000 residents Tuesday morning, the PBCN declared a state of emergency and issued a mandatory evacuation alert.
People are being told to register at the Pelican Narrows High School to board buses that will start evacuating residents at 1 p.m. CST.
Beatty said approximately 2,000 people still in Pelican Narrows need to leave immediately, either by bus or in their own vehicles.
The road between Pelican Narrows and Sandy Bay, Highway 135, remains closed and people are being reminded not to use this route.
Highway 106, also known locally as the Hanson Lake Road, and several around Narrow Hills Provincial Park also remain closed due to wildfires.
A wildfire is edging closer to the Candle Lake resort community northeast of Prince Albert, Sask. The Morning Edition spoke with the general manager of the resort, who is currently renting rooms to firefighters trying to protect the community.
Fires merge
Two fires that have been burning since early May north of Prince Albert have now merged into one fire.
The Camp fire and Shoe fire — first reported on May 6 and May 7, respectively — will now be reported just as the Shoe fire, according to a Tuesday morning update from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.
It has prompted evacuations at Lower Fishing Lake, Piprell Lake, East Trout Lake and Little Bear Lake, as well as a pre-evacuation notice for Whiteswan/Whelan Bay.
The fire had grown to more than 216,000 hectares in size, as of 11:25 a.m. CST Tuesday.
‘There’s fire all over the place’
Timothy Ballantyne was one several of people that boarded a bus with a few possessions Monday and left as he watched fire burn near his home in Pelican Narrows.
“It’s so scary. My hometown is burning,” Ballantyne said from outside the Saskatoon Inn on Tuesday, where evacuees are being housed.
“There’s fire all over the place.”
Ballantyne lives in Pelican Narrows, one of eight communities in the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, which is spread over 51,000 square kilometres of the province’s heavily forested north.
The latest update from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) shows 21 fires burning across the province with only five considered contained.
Many other communities are under evacuation orders including Little Bear Lake, Lower Fishing Lake and East Trout Lake.
Southeast of Prince Albert remains under a pre-alert and special air quality statements remain in effect.
Hall Lake threatened
A wildfire burning near Hall Lake, about 230 kilometres north of Prince Albert, is threatening the community there.
An update given to community leaders on Monday said the Pisew wildfire had expanded quickly to 44,000 hectares from 14,000 in just 24 hours.
Parts of the sprawling community are under a mandatory evacuation, affecting about 380 people.
On Monday, a back burn was conducted to try to protect the community by eliminating nearby fuel sources.
“We’re kind of worried about if this back burn will hold,” said Lac La Ronge Indian Band Coun. Norman Ross, who’s in Hall Lake. “Yesterday, people were starting to panic because of the smoke [from the back burn], but it was doing what it’s supposed to do.”
The SPSA is advising residents from Besnard Lake, Clam Lake, Trivet Lake and Morning Lake to avoid entering the area.
