At the latest Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency update on the wildfire situation, officials announced the province is in a stronger position today than in previous days.

Premier Scott Moe said the extra work done by SaskPower, SaskTel as well as many contractors ensured the restored communication and power service to communities as an essential piece that allows them to advise the community leadership that it is safe to return.

“The work doesn’t end with people returning to their home. The work will go on for weeks and literally go on for months as we see far too many homes that have been lost, and people do not have a home to go to so we will need to work closely to support the rebuilding of those homes and ultimately the rebuilding of those communities.”

Premier Moe also spoke of the work needed to be done to ensure they able to administer the $500 additional support cheques to evacuees, which he said he hopes will be administered in days, not weeks.

Minister of Government Relations Eric Schmalz said that he joined Minister Tim McLeod and SPSA President Marlo Pritchard to visit several communities that have been impacted by the wildfires expressing a “very powerful experience witnessing the devastation in Creighton, Denare Beach, Pelican Narrows, Weyakwin and the tri-communities of La Ronge, Air Ronge and Lac La Ronge.”

Schmaltz said the Shoe Fire is no longer a threat or immediate threat to Candle Lake and as of this morning the Candle Lake council, in consultation with the SPSA has publicly advised that Candle Lake will be lifting their voluntary evacuation advisory and local emergency for the community.

As of 5 p.m. today Schmalz said they are also announcing they are lifting the ATV-UTV ban. However, the provincial fire ban will remain in place.

As for emergency funds to those displaced, all residents over the age of 18 will have who have been evacuated from the primary residence will receive $500 in financial assistance. Schmalz said there has been a significant number of inquiries when these funds will be administered by their communities, and that “Minister McLeod and I have been speaking directly with community leaders about how these funds will be disbursed and we understand that there’s some challenges for the local leadership to be able to do that effectively.”

Schmalz said the SPSA will be working directly with the community leadership to work out the process for disbursement of these funds to their residents in whatever way the community chooses, in order to reduce the burden on them and their administration, while thanking the leaders of all the affected communities for their willingness to collaborate on how these supports are provided to the impacted families and individuals.

SPSA President Marlo Pritchard said there are 20 active wildfires in the province and six are not contained. To date there have been 259 wildfires, well over the five-year average of 148 as of this date.

In addition, Pritchard also stated they have confirmed 400 structures have been burnt in the wildfire and with ongoing assessments of the communities devastated by wildfires, that number is expected to increase.

As for weather conditions, Pritchard said it is more favourable today, as he reports a mostly cloudy and cool day and in the coming days, the forecast is showing some much-needed rain into the weekend.

Pritchard also shared the hiring of approximately 140 Type 3 firefighters to assist the Type Ones and Type Twos, with more in the coming weeks to help solidify the fire lines and do some mopping up and stabilizing the position moving forward, as they focus on hot spots and trying to reduce the risk of flare-ups and continuing to monitor perimeters on all fires.

It was also announced many evacuated communities have begun repatriating or have repatriated. As of today, there are approximately 10,300 individuals that have either returned or are in the process of returning, with many taking more time over the coming days.

Creighton, Denare Beach, East Trout Lake, Whelan Bay as well as the P1 and P2s in Cumberland House are still under evacuation orders.

Pritchard also said the backlog with the 855 line and assisting with evacuations has been addressed, however making callbacks and helping with registrations is continuing over the number of days but those that call the 855 line now will be either dealt with immediately or within 24 hours.

Contact with those community leaders will be made in the coming days for distribution of the $500 cheques, are continuously working on evacuation payments to those that either self-evacuated or were entitled to food vouchers or financial assistance, and those will be retroactive back to the date of the evacuation orders.

In regard to the 30 fires that had been intentionally set, Pritchard said they are encouraging anyone who knows about an intentionally set fire to please contact Crimestoppers or their local police.