Hot, dry and windy forecast spells trouble for northern Saskatchewan wildfire fighting efforts

Jeffery Tram · CBC News

· Posted: May 30, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

A meteorologist is informing the upcoming upwind forecast isn't bully quality for the wildfire outlook successful bluish Saskatchewan, with hot, adust and windy conditions successful the foreseeable future.

"We're not getting immoderate relief, unfortunately," said Justin Shelly, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. "We're expecting precise lukewarm conditions to continue."

A acold beforehand volition make from Alberta that volition determination to Saskatchewan connected Friday, but it volition lone make immoderate isolated chances of showers and thunderstorms, said Shelly.

"There's not going to beryllium a batch of accumulations successful presumption of rainfall amounts associated with this," he said.

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Shelly said different strategy from Alberta volition beryllium coming Saturday nighttime into Sunday morning, but astir of the rainfall volition deed isolated spots of bluish Saskatchewan, with lone about five to 15 millimetres in those areas.

Ideal upwind conditions to assistance with the wildfires would include multiple days of persistent rainfall and cooler temperatures without immoderate important gusty winds, helium said.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't look similar we're going to spot thing similar that come up present successful the adjacent week oregon 10 days."

'We're precise fortunate': compartment owner

With wildfires continuing to rampage, Regina nonmigratory Trevor Phenix went northbound this week to prevention his cabin.

Phenix, who owns a household compartment adjacent Besnard Lake, astir 560 kilometres northbound of Regina, already mislaid the compartment erstwhile successful 2015 to wildfires and had to rebuild it. He said helium had been watching the fire's advancement for days and made the telephone to caput up to the country Sunday morning.

"I got a telephone from my relative asking if I'd seen the occurrence map," helium said. "I looked astatine it and it was beauteous evident that the occurrence was either already astatine the compartment oregon was going to beryllium determination beauteous quickly."

Phenix and his 2 cousins went up to the cabin with a program to trial and acceptable up much sprinklers and occurrence pumps.

On Tuesday morning, they saw a fire within astir 75 metres of the cabin. Phenix said helium hustled astir to marque definite the sprinklers were working, and by the clip helium got to the apical of the cabin, the occurrence had reached the basal of the cabin.

"I fundamentally walked up to it already burning and it had started to pain benignant of nether the cabin," Phenix said. "I grabbed 1 of the the hoses attached to the sprinkler, determination the sprinkler caput and went successful determination and fundamentally doused that arsenic rapidly arsenic I could."

Phenix was capable to prevention the compartment aft dousing the country with water. 

"We're precise fortunate, precise lucky."

Wildfire damaging infrastructure

SaskTel said successful a quality merchandise Wednesday a wildfire adjacent McLennan Lake, northeast of La Ronge, had damaged fibre infrastructure, causing large web congestion successful bluish Saskatchewan.

Internet, wireless and landline telephone services person been disrupted successful respective communities, including Southend, Wollaston Lake, Stony Rapids and Fond du Lac, the Crown telecomms corp said.

Crews are presently incapable to entree the country and statesman repairs owed to the occurrence threat, SaskTel said.

"Customers successful the impacted areas whitethorn acquisition slower than accustomed information services, dropped telephone calls, and discontinued information sessions," it said.

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

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