Fire crews are still working to contain a forest fire that threatened 60 homes in Red Wing, about 10 kilometres north of town.
“The plans are to continue working to get a complete control line all the way around the fire, to monitor the fire just to make sure it doesn’t escape the containment lines we do have and to work on any hotspots and flare-ups within the fire,” said Val Nicholson, communications consultant for the provincial Ministry of Environment.
“We have heavy equipment and crews working the line at this time. They are working their way in ... to make sure the perimeter is out,” said Alan Carswell, incident commander of Nisbet Fire.
The fire has consumed about four square kilometres of forest and one house has been confirmed destroyed by the blaze.
The hot temperature, low humidity and wind have made firefighting difficult. When the temperature is higher than the humidity, it causes a crossover and the very dry tress and brush “gets really explosive,” said Carswell.
“Every situation we go in to fighting a fire, we know anything can happen ... the old growth, the mistletoe in here is very explosive. It’s like a gasoline bomb going off.”
There were some hot spots and flare-ups on both sides of the containment lines, throughout the day Tuesday.
When that occurred, fire crews would respond with air support from helicopters carrying water and aircraft with the bright red fire retardant.
Firefighter Ralph Daniels from Sturgeon Lake First Nation brought 10 years experience to fight this fire.
“No fire is any different I guess, they just call us to come out and assist and get that fire under control and everyone is safe,” he said.
At press time, Tuesday night, about 50 people were still evacuated from the area and the Red Cross is asking people who have evacuated from the fire-affected area to register with the Canadian Red Cross office in Prince Albert.
“A lot of it is their houses are OK ... but we can’t have people going up and down the roads because we have heavy equipment,” Carswell said.
The cause and origin are still under investigation, but lightning has been ruled out, said Carswell.
There are currently 12 fires throughout the province, which bring the total number of fires to 124 for this year.
“It’s hard to tell long term (fire risk) ... in the short term, we are in an extreme fire situation all the way across the province,” said Kim Connors, director of wildfire operations.
ahill@paherald.sk.ca
