Although Saskatchewan’s has one of the highest wildfire evacuation totals among the provinces, Manitoba has taken the title of most people evacuated with 18,000 as of midnight on Thursday.

Saskatchewan is sitting at 15,000 people who have fled their homes. Alberta has about 2,700 displaced residents, and Ontario 2,300. In British Columbia, 115 properties have been evacuated.

On top of facilities in large centres such as Saskatoon and Prince Albert opening their doors to house evacuees, smaller communities have been doing the same. Most recently, Montreal Lake Cree Nation began housing 34 northern residents out of a school gymnasium.

Thursday, MN-S opened the Batoche Festival Grounds to all wildfire evacuees looking for a secure place to wait out the situation. As of 8:30 yesterday morning, there were over 100 people already on the festival grounds in various living spaces. The Batoche site is offering trappers tents – outfitted with cots, traditional food, cultural activities and wi-fi service in order to keep in touch with family. Evacuees who are interested in seeking refuge at the Batoche Festival Grounds should call the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency to register their destination, then call 1-877-Metis-S-K, extension nine, to register for Batoche.

There are currently seven fires of note. These include the 471,418-hectare Shoe fire near Lower Fishing Lake, the 136,876-hectare Jaysmith fire north of Missinipe, the 141,905-hectare Pisew fire west of La Ronge, and the 130,822-hectare Wolf fire west of Denare Beach.