Wildfire risks remain extreme throughout much of Saskatchewan

The long weekend is capping off with a blanket of extreme fire risks for almost all the province.

A fire in Prince Albert National Park has forced staff there to put up a 24-hour evacuation alert on its Sandy Lake and Narrows campsites as a precautionary measure. The Rabbit Creek Fire, which flared up earlier in the week, remained at 17,000 hectares in size at last word.

Despite fires and risks, a few fire bans have been lifted. Now free to burn open fires isthe Rural Municipality of Sasman near Wadena.Several RMs in the Yorkton areaplus the city itselflifted their fire bans over the long weekend as well.

The status of a number of fires in the province fluctuated throughout the weekend, but late on Sunday a new fire called the Gravelr Fire had popped up to the east of Prince Albert. At last update, the province had not listed it as above 100 hectares in size and it was listed as contained, which means it's not expected to get larger as fire crews tackle it. The province had a total of four fires that were expected to get larger before fire crews contained them.

Meanwhile, those who had been evacuated earlier this week in the Prince Albert and Meadow Lake areas due to wildfires have returned home.