For the first time in more than seven months there are no wildfires burning in Saskatchewan. Wednesday on the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency Wildfire status web page it says “0” wildfires. In just this past week, there were as many three still being reported. There have been 505 fires this year and 396 is the 5-year average. On May 1st there were 13 wildfires reported and some communities started to evacuate that same week.

In October the SPSA provided a summary of the season saying about 1.9 million hectares of land was burned, which was estimated to be about five times the size of Prince Albert National Park. Fighting the wildfires involved 2,500 flying hours, over 500,000 litres of retardant used, over 16,000 hours of contracted helicopter use and over $7 million spent for hiring and using equipment to protect communities and infrastructure. Forty-three structures burned, but there was no community damage and 55 per cent of wildfires were human caused.

Forest fires in Canada have been named the Canadian Press story of the year. Forest fires forced more than 200-thousand people out of their homes across the country.