The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency shared some promising news Tuesday afternoon during its daily wildfire update. 

SPSA Vice President Steve Roberts says recent weather conditions have allowed the agency to remove all areas north of the Churchill River from the provincial fire ban. The revision took effect Tuesday afternoon. 

Despite the improvement, brought by moderate rainfall over the weekend, additional firefighters from the Unites States have arrived in Saskatchewan to help fight the 23 wildfires still burning in northern Saskatchewan. 

“Firefighters from Washington State, and this afternoon, firefighters from Colorado will arrive into Saskatchewan to help us fight their fires, and we’re augmenting those crews with Type 3 Saskatchewan firefighters. Already, over 96 of those have been hired and deployed onto some of these fires.” 

Also Tuesday, the Provincial Ombudsman dealt the Province 14 recommendations to provide better care to wildfire evacuees, as she says there has been a delay in its response.  

SPSA President Marlo Pritchard admits that there is a backlog of requests for supports and services, which the SPSA is working quickly to address. He says 14 additional staff were brought on to help meet these requests, who often come from unregistered evacuees that are staying with family and friends. 

“Although they need supports, many of them are not in critical position where others are. So, we’re triaging it. We’re dealing with those ones in need of immediate support with food vouchers, some financial support or a hotel…and we’re going to get through that backlog as quickly as humanly possible.” 

There are still six fires of note in Saskatchewan. These include the 503,000-hectare Shoe fire, the 139,000-hectare Jaysmith fire, the 170,000-hectare Ditch fire near Weyakwin, the 181,000-hectare Pisew fire near La Ronge, the 34,000-hectare Pelican fire, the Club fire and the Wolf fire, both near Creighton.  

Roberts says, “After today, those two fires will be considered one fire of note because they are immediately adjacent and are being managed centrally.”