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Areas missed by rain could soon see extreme fire risk again

May 13, 2016 | 5:00 PM

Saskatchewan firefighters aren’t becoming complacent, despite a respite from hot, dry conditions.

The fire threat which was previously easing back from the ‘extreme’ level could creep back up again in pockets of Saskatchewan missed by rain earlier this week.

“It’s improved because of the cooler temperatures, and humidities are higher in the evening. So the recovery is taking longer in the daytime,” Dennis Trueman, provincial fire centre manager, from Prince Albert, said. “That’s helped the threat somewhat. But a little bit of warm weather and some wind and we’ll be back into the thick of things here shortly, I’m sure. This high humidity and this little break in the weather has given us a chance to regroup and get our priorities set for the key areas that may be affected by fire in the near future here.”

Trueman said all seven active wildfires in the province are contained or under ongoing assessment, and none was threatening a community. But so far this year, 139 fires have been reported, up from 113 at the same time in 2015. The Fort McMurray fire was within 13 kilometres of the boundary, but did not pose a risk to any communities. Smoke from that fire did blow back into the province however, carried on a northwesterly wind.