The fire ban issued by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency for the province’s north on Thursday came one week earlier than in past years.

Bryan Chartrand, Executive Director of Land Operations for the SPSA, says until now, the earliest fire ban they’ve issued was on May 16th back in 2023.

He’s hoping for some spring rains to help mitigate the current wildfire situation, because despite the snow we got this winter, he says the soil is extremely dry, and the conditions gets worse the further north you go.

“There are a couple (fires) that we are keeping an eye on. Fortunately, the one just east of Prince Albert, the Garden River Fire, is contained at this time, so that relieves a little bit of pressure for us. The one to the west, toward Onion Lake, that fire is considered a priority just due to the population and the size of it.”

He adds that the SPSA’s priorities shift on a daily basis depending on the conditions, resources, and the type of fire load they are seeing that day.

“There is also the Strike Fire up by the Meadow Lake Campground. With parks opening up in the near future, we really want to get a handle on these fires, because people are wanting to get out an about.”

This year to date, there have been 135 wildfires in the province, all of which were caused by human activity, and the 5-year average is 64.

Chartrand says the main causes have been ATV riding in dry grass, brush burning in high winds, and in a few cases, arson.

“They’re all human caused, so if we took that factor out, the risk of fire would be very, very low, because there is very minimal lighting at this time, which is the other cause of our wildfires.”

He admits that nature has ups and downs, we just seem to be facing an ‘up’ this year. He hopes for some reprieve in the near future.