Federal officials say the 2026 wildfire season has been slow to start, but the risk remains high, with Saskatchewan already seeing two uncontained wildfires.
Duck Lake Reeve Remi Martin told CTV News the blaze, dubbed the Lobstick fire, began Tuesday afternoon in the provincial forest north of the community and quickly spread.
“It’s amazing how quickly things changed,” he said. “May long weekend we had an inch and a half of moisture, a mixture of rain and snow, and in seven days later we’ve got wildfires burning in the RM.”
He said six homes are threatened by the fire, with some families evacuated and others on standby.
The evacuation notice issued by the SPSA lists the affected region as all houses west of Miner’s Creek and Highway 302W in the Lily Plain area.
Another uncontained wildfire, known as the Cayford fire, is burning northwest of Hudson Bay, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) website.
With the current conditions and thunderstorm risks, Martin added he’s concerned more fires could start.
For the community of Beauval, the smell of smoke is a reminder of last year’s wildfire season, when flames threatened the community on several fronts.
“We got our first smell of smoke last night, which originated from, Prince Albert, Duck Lake. So that put our hairs in the back of our head standing up again,” Beauval Mayor Rick Laliberte explained.
Speaking by video call, Laliberte stood on the edge of the community in front of trees damaged by last year’s wildfire. The mayor noted that preparing for another wildfire season and equipping local firefighters has been a challenge.
“This is the burnt-out section that came in last summer, so the threat is real,” he said, under the backdrop of scorched trees. “But preparing ourselves and equipping ourselves, is, I guess, the challenge right now.”
The concerns come as most of Saskatchewan is currently under high to extreme fire danger.
The federal emergency management minister says above-normal temperatures are forecasted across much of the country over the next three months and is urging people to be prepared.
“We know that situation can change rapidly and that’s why preparedness matters in every jurisdiction and in every community,” Eleanor Olszewski, the federal minister of emergency management, said in a briefing Thursday.
She noted the federal government has leased 10 new aircraft for 150 days beginning this month, including four air tankers, one bird-dog plane and five heavy-lift helicopters.
As of Friday morning, 50 fire bans were in effect in rural municipalities, 19 in urban municipalities and four in provincial parks across Saskatchewan.
