Crews work to keep Biggar-area wildfire from spreading

A wildfire that has raged since Monday in a brush area southwest of the town of Biggar continues to pose a serious challenge for fire crews.

Jeanne Marie de Moissac is the reeve of the Rural Municipality (R.M.) of Biggar, which surrounds the townsite.

She said Wednesday morning that the blaze has remained contained to a 15-square-kilometre area that is loaded with tinder-dry brush and grass.

“It’s felt that they’re starting to burn themselves out,” she said. “But, saying that, the fire is still out of control. There are huge hotspots.”

She said water bombers in the air and firefighters and volunteers who have been pouring in with equipment on the ground are keeping the blaze from spreading.

“They’re still fighting to keep it where it is,” she said. “It hasn’t jumped the highway, it hasn’t jumped over another major road.”

With other fires burning around the province, de Moissac said she was grateful that so many people and communities were finding resources to spare to help.

“I think we’re running on adrenaline, and maybe smoke right now,” she said. “There’s such a feeling of camaraderie and teamwork. I think that’s what’s keeping people’s spirits up and keeping their bodies up and keeping their eyes open.”

“We all have a vested interest in our community. We all love our community and that includes the whole surrounding area. This just shows what Saskatchewan is made of. ”

While shifting winds have driven away flames and allowed heavy smoke to clear from the town of Biggar itself, de Moissac said a state of emergency remains in effect for the R.M. and an air-quality advisory was in place for the town.

“It’s looking unpredictable in the next few days and Friday (the wind) is switching around again and so we aren’t going to make any move to bring our residents back or our patients back until we can be certain that we won’t have to move them out again,” she said.

As firefighting efforts continue, de Moissac said it was still unclear if any homes had been lost.

With the situation still fluid and needs changing rapidly, de Moissac advised anyone wanting to volunteer to help to contact the Biggar town office at 306-948-3317 to see where they might be needed.

‘Watch what you’re doing and be careful:’ Provincial fire commissioner

Fire crews are hoping the weather will soon help deal with the vast number of fires they are dealing with across the province.

Fires near Biggar and west of Battleford recently have been contained.

Provincial Fire Commissioner Duane McKay said the hot and dry winds have been fanning the flames and caused them to spread quickly.

“It will start somewhere where the grass is a couple of feet high and then it moves into those other consumable areas which we’ve seen and experienced in and around the province,” McKay told John Gormley on Wednesday.

McKay said there are many things that can start a fire but most of them are due to human activity.

“We’ve seen them from cigarettes that have been discarded from passing cars to quads that owners have removed their spark baffle in the muffler systems … When you sum it all up, it’s humans,” McKay said.

If someone needs to perform a controlled burn, McKay said it’s important that they call ahead to let fire crews know what is happening. That allows crews to know not to dispatch anyone to put out the controlled burn, but it also lets them know where it is located if it does get out of control.

“If something does occur — because sometimes we can’t control all those things — call 911 immediately,” he said. “These fires move extremely fast, they move out in all directions and can consume a great deal of consumables — combustibles — while you’re trying to fight it.”

McKay said flames can shoot up six to eight feet and can move 60 metres per minute.

“The message,” he said, “is watch what you’re doing and be careful with fire regardless of your activity.”