CALGARY — As wildfires carried thick black smoke too close for comfort to several communities in northern Saskatchewan Thursday, more residents were forced from their homes by the burning forests, bringing the evacuation roll to more than 2,000.
Residents of Deschambault Lake, Black Lake, Stony Rapids, Uranium City, Pelican Narrows and Sandy Bay are riding out the danger with friends or in emergency shelters set up in cities across the province. It is the dreaded ritual of summer, brought on by high temperatures, little rain, strong winds and lightning strikes, and it has produced more fires in the province than usual.
So far this year, 460 wildfires have burned in Saskatchewan, up from 205 in 2007 and higher than the 346 fires calculated as the province's 10-year average for this time of year.
“It's tinder dry. We've seen about three-quarters of an inch of rain in the last month, since the snow went,” said Al Zurloff, manager of the store at Deschambault Lake Resort, northeast of Prince Albert, where ash fell earlier in the week and electricity disruptions caused by burning power lines have become routine.
“If we get a thunderstorm now we won't know which way to run,” Mr. Zurloff added.
On Thursday, buses rumbled by the resort on their way north to Sandy Bay to pick up about 160 people after about half of the community's 900 residents had been told to flee.
In all, about 500 firefighters, some brought in from neighbouring provinces, are now working to knock down the flames in Saskatchewan, with the help of 35 helicopters and 12 tanker aircraft.
The wildfires of Saskatchewan were the most dramatic in the country, but hardly the only ones.
As of Thursday, Natural Resources Canada rated the fire dangers as high to extreme from Saskatchewan to British Columbia and up into the Northwest Territories, where high temperatures are in the forecast for the coming days. Pockets throughout the Maritimes, Southern Ontario and Quebec are also considered to be at high risk for wildfires.
According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, nearly 3,000 wildfires have been sparked to date across the country, and nearly 600,000 hectares burned.
Evacuations have been ordered in hot spots across Canada, but officials have actually counted fewer fires and less damage so far this year than in 2007. This year's forest-fire situation also falls short of the 10-year average, which counts about 3,500 wildfires and at least 743,000 scorched hectares of land.
But officials warn the situation could get worse with continuing dry conditions and high winds.
British Columbia has banned open fires in coastal, Kamloops and southeast regions, and parts of northern Alberta are also under similar bans.
Alberta has brought in 160 firefighters and three air tankers from Ontario this week to help battle fires already burning and to respond during this period of extreme fire hazard.
“It's really a gear-up mode. There could be a lot more activity,” said Anastasia Drummond, a wildlife information officer with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.
The provinces and territories have mutual aid agreements to ship personnel and equipment wherever – and whenever – help is needed during wildfire season. Earlier this year, Alberta dispatched 30 firefighters to help extinguish wildfires in Manitoba.
Twenty new wildfires were detected in the past 24 hours in Alberta, but none are out of control. However, Ms. Drummond said the strong upper ridge hanging over the province is a concern.
“We are expecting a lot of lightning strikes in the coming days,” she said.
So far, 906 wildfires have been set, the majority in northern Alberta, which is higher than the five-year average of 819. However, much less brush is actually burning: 6,420 hectares compared with more than 30,000 hectares usually torched by this time of year.
