Fire ban in effect for all Sask. provincial parks, Crown lands

A fire ban is now in effect for all provincial parks and Crown lands across Saskatchewandue to hot, dry conditions and an extreme fire risk that covers most of the province.

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) saysthe provincial fire banincludes any open fires, controlled burns and fireworks.

As of 4 p.m. CST, there were 16wildfires in the province, twoof which were contained. Those numbers are expected to change as the day goes on.

Saskatchewan has had 202 wildfires so far in 2021. This is slightly over the five-year average of 195.

The SPSA says the two most concerning uncontained wildfires at this time are the Briggsfire in the vicinity of theCigar Lakeuranium mine, and the newer Lock fire, which is located 45 kilometres west of Buffalo Narrows.

As of 11 a.m. Friday morning, the Lock fire covered 3,380 hectares. No structures have been reported damaged at this time.

"This fire is exhibiting extreme fire behaviour, significant growth as well. [It's] similar to what we're seeing all across Western Canada and the U.S. at this time," SPSAvice-president of operations Steve Roberts said ata press conference Friday morning.

The public safety associationis usingwater bombers. Government crewsand community firefighting crews from First Nations and northern communities are working on the ground, according to Roberts.

He says emergency service officers are working with leadershipin thecommunities of St. George's Hill and Dillon Lake over 20 kilometres from the Lock wildfire in order tokeep them advised and updated on the impacts of the wildfire.

"Currently the smoke projections are north from the fire. We do anticipate we may see localized smoke potentially starting tonight and maybe into tomorrow."

Roberts says the agency has moved some industrialair cleaners to the area whichcan be used in skating rinks or community halls to provide a cleaneratmosphere for those that might have respiratory issues.

"The focus of our efforts is to prevent migration of this fire eastward towardthem," Roberts said.

SPSA encourages municipalities to instate fire bans

Many municipalities across Saskatchewan already have fire bans in place. But the SPSA is encouraging allmunicipalities to assess the fire risk in their area.

Roberts says public safetyis working with theMinistry of Government Relations which is responsible for all communications in the province's northern district as well as Municipalities of Saskatchewan (formerly the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, or SUMA) and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalitiesto communicate with municipalities.

"We have communicated and had discussions with both SARM and SUMAof our intent to put the fire ban on. And very often we see reciprocal behaviour by those agencies due to our response to the fire ban in the area," Roberts said.

The ban on open fires on Crown land also applies to Indigenous traditional burning ceremonies, according to Roberts.

"Occasionally, we'll work with communities if there is a need for a ceremonial fire or traditional burning of some sort. But we have a good relationship with our communities and we often have that dialogue on the necessity of having an open fire there and just have the same concern about those fires causing a significant event."