Fire crews sent by the Canadian Armed Forces to help fight blazes in Saskatchewan are returning home this week, as the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency says some of the province’s largest wildfires are now under control.
In July, about 300 Armed Forces members arrived to help fight the devastating wildfires raging through the province’s north. They joined crews from Australia, Mexico and a host of other provinces who had also come to assist local efforts.
As of Wednesday, around 200 of them had been redeployed to their home bases outside the province. The remaining military crews are planning to leave Friday morning.
A number of other out-of-province crews have also now departed. Earlier this week, the Australian crews returned home, as did water bombers loaned from Quebec. Crews from Mexico, North Dakota, Yukon, Ontario and Parks Canada still remain.
Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency vice-president of operations Steve Roberts said he doesn’t foresee needing to call the military back this fire season.
“We are retaining some other out-of-province resources, and we are continuing to rely on our local Type 3 firefighters [crews hired on an emergency basis] to meet the needs to continue to work on these fires as we approach the fall,” he said.
The departures follow what the safety agency says has been one of the most challenging fire seasons in years.
“From the number of communities that have been evacuated, this has by far been the largest fire season in Saskatchewan,” said Roberts.
“The number of total evacuees is comparable to 2015, where we had large-scale evacuation.”
Since May, the agency has issued 33 evacuation orders for communities, several times more than the two it issued in 2024 and the average of three per year it issued over the last five years.
All of those evacuation orders have now been rescinded. The safety agency has also lifted its provincial fire ban, though several local fire bans put in place by some municipalities are still in effect. All closures of provincial highways have been removed.
As of Wednesday, there are still 49 active wildfires in the province, six of which are considered uncontained.
However, many of the larger fires have been contained over the last week and half, said Roberts.
The Buhl Fire near Prince Albert National Park, the Ditch Fire near Weyakwin, the Pisew Fire outside La Ronge, the Shoe Fire near Lower Fishing Lake, the Hawk Fire near Hall Lake and the Wolf and Sturgeon fires near Denare Beach have all been brought under control.
“I have nothing but excellent recommendations for our crews,” said Roberts.
“Our number 1 priority is protecting human life and communities. There were no fatalities even though we had extremely aggressive fire behaviour, many people in the fire line, many aircraft in the air,” he said.
“We had severe losses at Denare Beach, but many communities were protected from any losses.”
Two of the province’s most challenging fires, the Muskeg and Trail fires outside of Beauval, remain uncontained.
However, the communities are no longer in immediate danger, and Beauval’s residents are free to return.
Beauval Mayor Rick Laliberte says his community is in “recovery mode.”
“We have a lot of danger from the trees that the fire burnt right to the roots, so they have no foundation,” he said.
“So you can’t walk in the bushes, you know, without endangering yourselves or your family. We have to correct that. We have to get safety back into our community.”
