Latest news with #EastTroutLake
CBC
14 hours ago
- Climate
- CBC
Saskatchewan state of emergency comes to an end, 25 wildfires still active
Saskatchewan's state of emergency due to wildfires expired Thursday at midnight. East Trout Lake is the only community in the province still under a mandatory evacuation order.
CTV News
2 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Sask. family speaks out after wildfire destroys home
Watch WATCH: A father and son from East Trout Lake, whose house was destroyed by wildfire, are wondering why more wasn't done to save it despite their earlier calls for help.
CTV News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
‘It was left to burn': Sask. family demands answers after wildfire destroys home
A family from East Trout Lake who had their house destroyed by wildfire is wondering why more wasn't done to save it, despite their earlier calls to help save their home. The Saskatchewan NDP joined Doug and Nick Swiderski, who lost not only their long-time home in East Trout Lake, 160 kilometers northeast of Prince Albert, but also the ashes of their parents and grandparents. The father and son told media Wednesday morning in Saskatoon that they warned government officials about the growing threat of the wildfires but were dismissed outright. Adding, there was misinformation about their community coming from officials. 'It was left to burn. I had heard at one point that there were reports coming out that there are no permanent residences at East Trout Lake. Well, I got news for them. My driver's license says that I used to live there. So, I'm not there now,' Doug Swiderski said. The government failed the families of East Trout Lake, according to Jordan McPhail, NDP MLA for Cumberland, who is demanding answers. 'We need to know why this happened and make sure it never happens again,' McPhail said. The Swiderskis said the cabin meant everything to their family, and they would have done anything to save it. Doug has lived in East Trout Lake for 55 years, after his parents bought a home there when he was six. Years later, he built a new home on the same spot, where he kept the ashes of his parents after they passed — just as they had asked. That home, and the ashes inside, were destroyed in the fire. 'That cabin meant everything to mom and dad, so it meant everything to me,' Doug said. 'We raised concerns about the fire fast approaching East Trout and were laughed at. That was two days before the entire community burned. There was a complete failure to respond to protect our homes,' Nick Swiderski said. The Saskatchewan NDP has written to the Provincial Auditor, calling for a full review of wildfire response and the grounding of the province's air tanker fleet. CTV News has reached out to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency and MLA Tim McLeod for comment and is awaiting a response.
CBC
09-06-2025
- Climate
- CBC
'We cannot slow down': wildfire efforts continue as cool temperatures and rain persist in northern Sask.
Cool temperatures and light rainfall has slowed down many of the wildfires burning in northern Saskatchewan and officials with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) said some residents may be able to return home in the coming days. However, firefighters continue to battle the flames and 24 wildfires are burning in the province. "We cannot slow down, and we're not going to slow down," said Marlo Pritchard, the agency's president and fire commissioner. As of Sunday afternoon, 33 communities have been evacuated. Weyakwin is the only community that has had their evacuation order lifted and that happened on Thursday. Meanwhile, overnight Saturday up to 24 millimetres of rain fell in parts of Saskatchewan, and with lower temperatures expected to continue, fire crews are looking to "take advantage of this small window of opportunity" while the fire intensity is lower, Pritchard said. The province has already hired some Type 3 firefighters, who are generally temporary workers with basic firefighting training, to assist in wildfire efforts. "I really want to call on community leaders, those community leaders that have Type 3 firefighters, to start getting names of those that have qualified," said Pritchard. Bryan Chartrand, SPSA executive director of land operations, said the growth of uncontained wildfires is beginning to ease. He noted the Shoe fire – which covers areas around East Trout Lake, Pipprell Lake and Lower Fishing Lake — received about 22 millimetres of rain and has not grown any further. It is just under 500,000 hectares in size. This comes days after nearby Candle Lake put a voluntary evacuation order into effect as fast-moving fires approached the community. The rainfall and continued firefighting efforts have dampened the fire, which is still about 10 kilometres west of the community. For now, Candle Lake authorities have said their community is out of danger. La Ronge, which is also nearby, had 24 millimetres of rain on Saturday, Chartrand said. Crews are observing hot spots and residents may be able to return in the coming days. "We continue to work and set up fire guards," Chartrand said, adding they want to make sure areas are protected in case there's more hot, dry weather and the fires pick up again. The province is hopeful the wildfire surrounding Pelican Narrows will soon be contained and that the community will be open for residents to return home. Chartrand said there haven't been any threatened areas for a number of days now. While many areas are beginning to see improvement, the Wolf fire affecting communities like Denare Beach and Creighton, is still a source of concern for the province. Temperatures have been lower in the area, but there has not been enough rainfall to decrease the intensity of the fire, he said. Crews remain in the community tending to hot spots and are actively working to repair the fibre optics affecting cellular service. The province has also said verification teams are expected to be deployed over the next couple of days to start "that challenging task and very sad task" of identifying what properties were lost due to the wildfires. Currently, the SPSA has confirmed 290 of the 400 so-called values, which refers to residents' lodges, equipment, boats, and trailers, have been reported as lost. There have been 254 wildfires in Saskatchewan so far this year, well above the five-year average of 143 for this date. The SPSA announced there have been no new human starts to fires. At the same time, the provincewide fire ban will remain in effect and be reassessed as weather conditions change. Financial assistance is being increased for wildfire evacuees in Saskatchewan, the province announced Saturday. In a SPSA news release earlier Saturday, the province said it is raising the daily amount provided to the head of each household to $40 per day, from $20. Additional members of a household will now get $20 per day, up from $10, the agency said, to a new daily maximum for evacuees of $200 per day.
CBC
03-06-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Cabin owner documents 'haunting' destruction of East Trout Lake, Sask., by wildfire
Nathan Pitka says it was a difficult journey up to East Trout Lake, Sask., to see the absolute devastation to the townsite. He had seen the drone footage released by the province last week that showed an overhead view of the flattened cabins, but it didn't fully prepare him for what it was like on the ground. "What we saw was haunting," Pitka said in an interview on Tuesday. "We were at a loss of words to what we saw. The entire community had been devastated. There wasn't a single structure standing in the community." Poor internet connection? CBC Lite is our low-bandwidth website. Pitka's extended family had five cabins at East Trout Lake, about 150 kilometres north of Prince Albert. He had gone up there last month and planned to spend the summer there, like usual. But when the evacuation order from the resort subdivision came on May 21, he packed up and left. WATCH | First look at devastation for East Trout Lake property owners: RAW | First look at devastation for East Trout Lake property owners 55 minutes ago Duration 1:39 Some property owners whose cabins and homes at East Trout Lake were burnt by the Shoe fire got a first-hand look at the charred rubble. One week later, Pitka got the news that the Shoe fire had burned through. That fire is still the biggest one burning in the province, last measured at more than 400,000 hectares as of Tuesday morning. Pitka has been staying in Saskatoon. On Saturday, he travelled up to East Trout Lake to document the devastation for himself and the other cabin owners. He shared the footage from his dashcam with CBC News, showing the journey up past Candle Lake and through the forest. "We thought it was important for ourselves, but also to let others in the community see the extent of the damage and devastation," Pitka said. He described areas of scorched forest with nothing but stumps. The sky was dark with smoke and fires were still smouldering in the ditches. Piles of metal and concrete are all that's left of the cabins. He took photos of each site to share with other cabin owners, so others wouldn't have to make the journey. Pitka said he and his family are grieving the destruction at East Trout Lake, which is "more than a location" — it's been the gathering site for his family for nearly 50 years. "I think I'm speaking for a lot of the residents that are out there," he said. "These have been multi-generational cabins and used year-round for connecting with the land and escaping the stresses of life." His family is working on how they're going to stay connected this year, without their beloved gathering place. On Tuesday, Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) president Marlo Pritchard took a moment at the start of his daily briefing to acknowledge the "fear of the unknown" for those waiting to see what will happen to their homes, and the loss that others have already experienced. "I really want to acknowledge and give my thoughts and prayers to those that have been impacted directly, or indirectly, of these fires," Pritchard said. "There's a number of individuals that have lost property; we've had a number of individuals evacuated … that are sitting, waiting to hear whether their property has been impacted." On Monday, parts of the Northern Village of Denare Beach were consumed by the Wolf fire as it encroached on the community, near the Manitoba border in the province's northeast. La Ronge and surrounding communities were evacuated Monday as the Pisew fire approached from the north. Evacuees reported scary, long journeys south in convoys through flames and smoke from two other fires in the area — the Shoe and Ditch02 fires. About 8,000 people have been evacuated from northern Saskatchewan due to wildfires so far, according to the SPSA. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 21 wildfires burning in the province and the year-to-date total is 230, far above the five-year average of 132 fires for the same period.
