Photo courtesy La Ronge Fire Department

You may see the term “local smoke” appear in your forecast as four uncontained wildfires burn in the province.  There are 21 active fires in Saskatchewan.

The wildfire of note according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, is the 22DB-Richard fire northeast of Richard Lake which is now almost 85-hundred hectares in size. The communities affected include the communities of Creighton and Denare Beach in Saskatchewan with the fire approximately 39 kilometres away.

Flin Flon in Manitoba is also impacted.

There have been 352 fires so far this year and the five year average is 334. Fire suppression for the Richard fire includes helicopters.