Communities evacuated as new wildfires in northwest Sask. threaten road access

Jeremy Warren · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 02, 2025 6:12 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

New wildfires successful the Saskatchewan's northwest person forced astir 200 radical to permission their homes.

So acold astir of the caller fires are small, but immoderate person grown ample capable to threaten roadworthy entree to distant communities, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA). Highways 198 and 165 successful the Beauval country were closed arsenic of 3:30 p.m. CST Wednesday.

Evacuated communities include the Hamlet of Lac La Plonge, the English River First Nation's Lac La Plonge reserve and the Bear Creek edifice subdivision. The Village of Beauval is nether a voluntary evacuation bid and residents are being told to beryllium acceptable to permission connected abbreviated notice.

"The enactment connected the [province's] westbound broadside importantly accrued implicit the weekend," SPSA vice-president of operations Steve Roberts said astatine the agency's Wednesday wildfire update.

"Some of those fires person grown. So obscurity adjacent the size and scope of the fires we've seen truthful far, but evidently capable to beryllium a interest to those section communities."

The state reported 65 active wildfires — 20 not contained — arsenic of 3:30 p.m. CST Wednesday. There person been 327 wildfires truthful acold this year, good supra the five-year mean of 185 by this date.

Roberts said the aforesaid rainy upwind that helped douse caller wildfires created caller problems.

"The bulk of these fires that started connected the westbound broadside were a effect of the storms that came done that did assistance the state with those large fires by bringing precipitation, but with them came thousands of lightning strikes."

More than 15,000 radical were displaced by wildfires successful June. Most of those evacuees person since returned home.

Lac La Plonge evacuated

The Lac La Plonge reserve, 1 of the evacuated communities, has a wildfire just six kilometres away, according to Dale Apesis, part of the section exigency absorption team.

"There's a batch of mixed emotions close now," helium said. "I'm the benignant of idiosyncratic wherever I tin enactment relaxed successful precocious captious situations, wherever I don't overreact to definite things that did not hap yet, but ever beryllium prepared for the situations. So close present things look to beryllium moving arsenic we anticipation they enactment successful presumption of mitigating this risk."

He said astir 100 radical unrecorded connected the reserve and 80 per cent of them person near the area. Most were sent to Cold Lake successful Alberta, with immoderate going to Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

Apesis said sprinklers and h2o tanks person been installed to support homes and the community. He said updates connected the concern tin beryllium recovered connected the English River First Nation's exigency absorption Facebook page.

Beauval nether voluntary evacuation and authorities of emergency 

The colony of Beauval, about 300 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, is nether a authorities of emergency. Mayor Rick Laliberte said the Muskeg occurrence is astir 12 kilometres from the village. People successful the assemblage are being asked to evacuate voluntarily.

"The fume is conscionable unthinkable up determination close now. It's rather the sight. Once the upwind picks it up, these fires, they're astatine their highest class … they're beasts," Laliberte said.

"The fires are conscionable truthful adjacent to us, timing wise, and the upwind forecast that was our concern."

Laliberte said radical successful the assemblage should person a go-bag ready, with medications, documents, electronics and different essentials. Beauval is asking radical to registry themselves with the colony and connected the SPSA app, and not hold until the past minute.

He said people should marque definite to notation their pets truthful that they tin beryllium cared for successful the lawsuit of an evacuation.

Up-to-date info connected progressive fires, fume and related topics is disposable astatine these sources:

• Current evacuation orders.
• Interactive Sask. progressive occurrence map.
• Fire information map.
• Fire bans.
• Environment and Climate Change Canada upwind alerts.
• Sask. Highway Hotline.
• Smoke forecast.
• Air quality.
• Tracking wildfires crossed Canada.