A view of wildfire damage in La Ronge, Sask. is seen in this handout photo on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Facebook/Derek Cornet *MANDATORY CREDIT*

By Canadian Press

UPDATE: Upwards of 15,000 people flee Saskatchewan wildfires, says Premier Moe

Jun 3, 2025 | 12:25 PM

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says thousands have fled a wildfire in the province’s north, almost doubling the number of people already forced from their homes.

Speaking on a Rawlco Radio show, Moe said about 7,000 people have evacuated the town of La Ronge, nearby Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. That number reached 15,000 by Tuesday afternoon.

An evacuation order was issued Monday due to an encroaching wildfire.

Some buildings, including homes, have been lost in the northern part of La Ronge, the premier said.

“(The fires) came down on La Ronge in a little bit different way, according to the mayor I chatted with last night, than they even expected,” Moe said Tuesday on The Evan Bray Show.

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“With the winds gusting and the dry conditions and just the ferocity of these fires, it is really an untenable time.”

About 8,000 residents were already displaced by fires in Saskatchewan.

In neighbouring Manitoba, fires have forced more than 17,000 people from their homes, including 5,000 residents of Flin Flon near the Saskatchewan boundary, along with members from at least four First Nations.

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency ordered the latest evacuation after fire breached the airport in La Ronge, a town of 2,500.

Moe said flames took out the agency’s tanker base as well as its communications base at the airport. None of the tankers were burned, he said.

“It is where we do the communications for all of the tankers, so we’re putting in place our backup plan,” he said.

Moe said the province is working with the federal government and the RCMP to determine whether military support is needed.

He added that with no rain in the forecast, officials will “have to keep this up for a few more days.”

Evacuees have been told to head south to Prince Albert, 240 kilometres south of La Ronge.

Phones are ringing off the hook at the local Days Inn hotel, said manager Samir Patel.

He said dozens of evacuees from La Ronge arrived Monday evening at the hotel. All of its rooms are occupied with at least four evacuees in every room, sleeping on extra air mattresses and cots.

“The staff are really stressed out, but we are all so excited to help the best we can,” he said.

The out-of-control fire was fast-moving and listed at more than 836 square kilometres in size as of Monday night.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority and the Canadian Red Cross have said more than 45 acute-care patients and long-term care residents were being moved from the La Ronge Health Centre and care homes.

La Ronge resident Terry Ross said Tuesday he was still in town, bringing the few people left in town to the community centre so they could evacuate. Despite the thick, smoky air and strong winds, he said the evacuation so far has been smooth.

“One car overheated on the highway,” he said. “But other than that, it’s been good.”

Ross said he plans to meet up later Tuesday with his children, who left La Ronge on Monday and are now in Saskatoon.

Derek Cornet, a La Ronge resident and reporter for local news outlet larongeNOW, said it’s the second wildfire to force out La Ronge residents in 10 years.

“People had a bit more of a head start in the 2015 (wildfire),” he said.

“This one took a lot of people by surprise because the winds are just so strong right now and the fire moved so quickly that a lot of people just weren’t expecting it to arrive as quickly as it did.”

SaskTel, the province’s main telecom provider, has said an outage is affecting internet, cellphone and landline phone services in the area.

Air quality alerts have also been issued for parts of Saskatchewan due to the fires.

In Manitoba, several First Nations have said they lack adequate equipment, like fire trucks, stable water supplies and transportation, to combat encroaching blazes.

In the case of Mathias Colomb Cree Nation in northeastern Manitoba, that means garden hoses and two fire trucks.

“If they had the tools and they had equipment that they need … they would have been able to approach this in a different way and maybe wouldn’t have seen as many evacuations as we are seeing today,” said Kyra Wilson, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

To the west in Pimicikamak Cree Nation, Chief David Monias said his community is on day 13 of evacuating thousands of its members, but is dealing with some who refuse to leave.

“We’re doing this on our own,” he said. “We should have been getting RCMP helping us to do all this stuff, but they’re not forcing anybody.”

— By Fakiha Baig and Aaron Sousa in Edmonton, with files from Brittany Hobson in Winnipeg

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2025.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 2:15 p.m. June 3 to include an updated number of evacuees.