The provincial government remains steadfast in its decision not to get the military involved in wildfire mitigation efforts as long as Saskatchewan’s needs are able to be met.
Minister of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Tim McLeod spoke during the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency briefing Monday afternoon.
“This isn’t a situation where we’re not asking for assistance or they’re not offering assistance. It’s simply a situation where the needs that we have to align with what they’re offering. We continue to have those conversations daily to find that alignment.”
He says the military can provide aerial evacuations from remote communities and type three firefighters, both of which are not needs in Saskatchewan. He adds that it’s unfortunate that the NDP is making it political, and the province is currently putting out additional requests for the needs that do exist.
Meanwhile, the SPSA is also finding a hard time finding enough hotel rooms for wildfire evacuees.
Steve Roberts SPSA Vice President of Operations says there are currently 10,262 registered evacuees in the province.
“There probably isn’t a corner of Saskatchewan that hasn’t been checked for available rooms. We have evacuees as far south as Weyburn, all the way to Unity, Swift Current, all the major centres, Prince Albert, Regina, Saskatoon.”
He adds that, in some cases, they’ve had to split up families in order to find them a place to stay. On the topic of returning home after an evacuation, Roberts adds that even if an evacuation order has been lifted, it doesn’t necessarily mean the community is ready to be lived in.
Roberts uses the example of Pelican Narrows, which has been determined to be no longer under threat.
“No one’s been restocking the grocery store. No one’s been in the hospital to ensure the hospital is ready to receive patients. No one has filled up the gas at the local gas station, so when people come back and want to reestablish their lives and their homes and do clean up and restock their fridges and get on with their life, they have to have those critical resources.”
Recently, the evacuation notice for Weyakwin was lifted, however 33 evacuation alerts remain across the province, 18 of which the SPSA is tending to. Over 10,200 people have been displaced from their homes in total.
There are currently 25 wildfires burning in the province, six of which are not contained.
