Members of the Candle Lake and Lakeland Fire Departments stand in front of the four skid units donated to Candle Lake by Global Medic. (paNow Staff/Nick Nielsen)
Canadian charity donates

Candle Lake Fire Department receives fire suppression units from Global Medic

Jun 2, 2025 | 7:11 PM

With the Shoe fire just 14 kilometres away from the eastern side of Candle Lake and the subdivision of Minowukaw Beach, Candle Lake Emergency Services are now better equipped to deal with some of the hotspots lingering from the massive 408,000 hectare blaze.

On Monday, the Resort Village of Candle Lake received nearly $30,000 worth of equipment from Global Medic, a Canadian charity that offers supports for people dealing with disasters, poverty or conflicts with humanitarian aid. The charity donated four different Skid Units which are small water tanks along with pumps, fuel tanks, and hoses on reels, that get thrown into the back of a pickup truck to deal with small spot fires, and are easily transferable should they need to be moved to another truck.

Candle Lake Fire Chief Jim Arnold was there to welcome the gift to his fire department and said that the plan is to station these four trucks around Candle Lake to have them at the ready should a spot fire flare up.

“What it comes down to is fire throws off brands [embers] that can go for two kilometers and still be able to light a fire. So, our plan is to deploy these skid units throughout the village so that we have an opportunity to take care of fires when they’re small. We’ve strategically placed 12 pumps throughout the village that we can access for quick water. So, we’ll pull water out of the lake we’ll fill these skids and make sure we’re ready to go as well.”

Members of the Candle Lake Fire Department showcase the new skid units in action. (paNow Staff/Nick Nielsen)

Each of the skid unit can be operated by two people; one to man the pump, the other to man the hose.

“Even in a 50 kilometre wind blowing directly at the fire, the fire is still creeping towards Candle Lake. It gains about 400 meters every day against the wind. That’s a problem. This fire is massive. So, I am pushing to be prepared and you know something, if we can make it so that it’s safer for our community, we’re going to do the best we can.”

Arnold also said that the firebreak being built around Candle Lake is about 40 per cent complete, and should be done within the next four days assuming they can keep working at the same pace they have been and don’t need to take workers away from building the firebreak to fight fires in other places.

While Global Medic is supplying the Candle Lake Fire Department with four skid units, a fifth was also brought for the Lakeland Fire Department. Another 13 units are being delivered into Saskatchewan including one to Buckland Fire and Rescue and six going to Warman. This has come through a partnership between Global Medic and the Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs (SAFC) that started from a convention in Alberta according to SAFC President Mike Kwasnica.

“Our executive director and one of our directors managed to stumble across them at a trade show and through conversations that they started to have, they looked at what was going on in Saskatchewan and how they could help, and it has turned into what you see here today and this is just the tip of the iceberg from what we’re talking with Global Medic, it sounds like they’re going to be a fantastic asset for us here in Saskatchewan.”

Since 2002, Global Medic has been operating out of Canada to help six million people in 90 countries around the world through disasters according to executive director Rahul Singh. His charity is funded through the donations of Canadians, and he said the need for help to fight fires in Saskatchewan is being heard everywhere.

ople of Saskatchewan fighting these fires now is one that is being heard around the country, even in his home base in Toronto.

“These trucks are going to go defend this town and go into a fire down the street, so the program works. It just needs more support, but it just shows the Pan Canadian approach to a built in Canada solution to help the brave frontline and to save the community so we can all pull together and do this. I just want us to take a moment and thank the folks on the frontline for the hard work they’re doing, and I’d remind the nation to pull together to help, because this is the heart of Canada and needs our help right now.”

Singh was presented the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce ‘Humanitarian of the Year’ Award in 2006 by then Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“It doesn’t seem like a day to celebrate, but we are celebrating the gift that we’re receiving today from Global Medic,” said Colleen Lavoie, the Mayor for the Village of Candle Lake. “We know that the fire is still a little under 14 kilometers away. We are waiting for the SPSA to let us know when it will be time for mandatory evacuation. Once we hear confirmation from them, we will call a meeting of the Village Council and make the necessary motions to go into state of emergency and to call a mandatory evacuation.”

Lavoie was emotional in her response to seeing the skid units being donated towards her community, but it’s all part of a larger response that has made her proud to be a part of her Candle Lake.

“There have been hundreds of people volunteering and showing up and taking their shift or making things at home and bringing them for the firefighters to eat. They’ve had an amazing group of volunteers. We’ve had a volunteer coordinator who’s done an amazing job of making sure that we have enough people at each shift and we’re working on that right now as we go through the evacuation, we will have a few helping our local restaurant because he doesn’t have enough employees to feed everybody. So we were getting shifts of volunteers to help out through the next little while. So the community is amazing. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to live here with these people.”

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

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