Saskatchewan's fire commissioner says a brushfire burning west of Saskatoon, seen on April 23, 2019, no long poses a threat to local residents.Kayle Neis/The Canadian Press
A wildfire burning near a town in central Saskatchewan was contained Wednesday, the provincial fire commissioner said.
Duane McKay said the flames no longer posed a threat to the town of Biggar, west of Saskatoon, but there were several farms in the area where crews had contained the blaze.
“Probably within a kilometre or so of the boundaries of that fire,” he said.
McKay said the fire was expected to burn in the underbrush for “some time,” and crews were focused on keeping the flames contained in their current boundaries.
The fire fight was complicated by the winds and temperatures, which hadn’t been dropping overnight, he said.
The province said patients evacuated from the Biggar Health Centre had not yet returned as of Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, McKay said one home was damaged on the Sweetgrass First Nation by a separate wildfire near North Battleford that was also under control Wednesday.
Police said firefighters and landowners who tilled fire breaks with their farming equipment prevented that blaze from spreading any further.
McKay said the fire situation remained volatile in the southern half of the province because of dry and windy conditions.