Candle Lake, Sask., issues pre-evacuation alert as 2 fires burn nearby

Hannah Spray · CBC News

· Posted: May 15, 2025 3:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Candle Lake, a edifice colony successful bluish Saskatchewan, has issued a pre-evacuation alert connected Thursday greeting arsenic 2 wildfires pain successful the area.

There's nary contiguous danger, said Jim Arnold, the village's occurrence chief. But residents and the galore radical heading to the water for the agelong play request to beryllium connected alert.

Candle Lake is astir 70 kilometres northbound of Prince Albert and has astir 1,100 imperishable residents, but successful the summertime the colonisation tin scope from 9,000 to 15,000, according to the village's website.

Two fires — named the Camp and Shoe fires — are "kind of converging towards Candle Lake," Arnold said. 

Modelling provided to the section occurrence section by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency indicates the upwind is going to beryllium blowing retired of the eastbound connected Thursday.

"So that moves the Camp occurrence person to Candle Lake," said Arnold.

The village's alert advises residents to signifier accommodation extracurricular Candle Lake, marque definite their vehicles are fuelled up, and hole an exigency kit that has medicine medications, important documents, computers, valuables, idiosyncratic items similar toiletries and supplies for their pets.

People tin cheque for updates connected the village's website and connected its Facebook page.

A "Welcome Back to the Lake" lawsuit planned for Saturday is inactive going up arsenic planned, the alert says.

In a media briefing Thursday morning, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency's enforcement manager of onshore operations, Bryan Chartrand, said the Camp occurrence was astir 25 kilometres eastbound of Candle Lake.

With the agelong play approaching, and radical heading northbound to cabins oregon lakes, it's important for everyone to enactment vigilant, helium said.

"Fortunately enough, you know, the upwind seems to beryllium cooling down, and if determination are immoderate much incidences it won't flare up arsenic aggressively arsenic these existent fires person been doing," said Chartrand.

"But again, I'd similar to punctual everybody that is going retired to beryllium diligent and cautious. The conditions are precise dry."

Chartrand noted most municipalities successful cardinal Saskatchewan person occurrence bans successful place, and the information bureau has implemented a occurrence prohibition successful the bluish forest — truthful radical heading retired camping should marque definite they're alert whether there's a occurrence prohibition wherever they're going.

There were 11 wildfires burning successful the state arsenic of Thursday morning, with 5 classified arsenic "not contained," including some the Shoe and Camp fires, according to the province. So acold this year, determination person been 155 wildfires, good up of the five-year mean of 96.