Canadian soldiers head home as wildfires continue to abate in Saskatchewan
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
PRINCE ALBERT – Canadian soldiers deployed to help fight wildfires in Saskatchewan are going home.
Steve Roberts, with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, says half of the 300 Canadian Armed Forces members have already returned to their home bases while the other half go back Thursday.
Roberts says that based on current wildfire behaviour he doesn’t anticipate the province needing military help for the remainder of the season.
He says the agency has also sent Australian firefighters home and no longer needs a Quebec water bomber, but is retaining crews from some other provinces to contain the blazes
The agency is reporting 49 active wildfires, including six uncontained.
Favourable weather conditions and reduced wildfire threats have allowed all of the province’s remaining evacuees to return home this week.
“We will continue to monitor and we will utilize our provincial resources and external resources as they’re required,” Roberts told a news conference Wednesday.
He said fires were aggressive this year, on par with blazes in 2015. At the peak in June, wildfires forced more than 10,000 northern Saskatchewan residents out of their homes.
In Denare Beach, 550 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, 218 personal residences burned down after a wildfire swept through the community.
“We had severe losses in Denare Beach, but many communities were protected from any losses,” Roberts said. “When you consider (the) communities that were impacted by wildfires this year, our success rate and our ability to protect people is extraordinary.”
In neighbouring Manitoba, wildfires at their peak forced 21,000 people from their homes. Some communities remain under evacuation and the province’s state of emergency remains in effect.
On Tuesday, Manitoba’s government signed a $30-million contract with the Canadian Red Cross for evacuee support and other services related to this year’s wildfires.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2025.
— By Jeremy Simes in Regina
Advertisement Advertise With Us