No homes have been destroyed to date. The Prince Albert pulp mill has also been left unscathed.
Roberts said the fire came up to the edge of Aallcann Wood Suppliers’ operational site. The site itself is secure, but log decks in the area and an office trailer have been damaged by the fire, he said.
Positive news for power
Around 8,000 homes north of Prince Albert continue to be without power, but SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry said there were some “positive developments” Wednesday morning.
Electricity has been restored to 1,000 homes in rural areas between Spruce Home and Christopher Lake.
The main line which feeds Emma Lake, Montreal Lake, Paddockwood, Anglin Lake, Filion Lake, Grandmother Bay, La Ronge and Waskesiu remains down. But Cherry said crews have recently been cleared to enter the area – on Tuesday that was considered too dangerous because of the uncontained fire.
“All told in that area we have about a 1,000 customers back on,” Cherry said.
At this stage, SaskPower still hopes to have all power restored within three days, but expects to have a clearer timeline later today.
An update from Saskatchewan Public Service Agency has been scheduled for 11 a.m.
SaskTel outage
According to the latest update from SaskTel support, work continues to restore cellular service in Emma Lake, Montreal Lake, Paddockwood, Anglin Lake, Filion Lake, Grandmother Bay, La Ronge, and Waskesiu.
“We are working to fix this as quickly as possible and will update this post when more info is available,” a statement said.
The massive blaze near Prince Albert. (Derek Provost/Submitted)
High winds continue to challenge crews battling the Cloverdale wildfire northeast of Prince Albert, but a change in the weather is being welcomed by emergency personnel.
The fire is still uncontained.
Meanwhile, SaskPower crews have been cleared to enter the area to start restoring power to 8,000 homes north of P.A. that have been in the dark since Monday.
“We will be able to make much more progress today with the cooler weather,” Steve Roberts, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency’s vice-president of operations, told reporters midday Wednesday.
Roberts said the fire had expanded from around 3,700 hectares or 40 square kilometres reported Tuesday, but the growth was “not substantive.”
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SaskTel has activated 15 more cell towers have gone online in rural Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy SaskTel SaskTel continues to roll out its expansion of rural cellular towers across thinly-populated areas of rural Saskatchewan, with the announcement on March 2 that a further 15 new macro cell towers had been activated. These additional towers bring 4G LTE wireless service to previously underserved rural parts of the province. You’d be forgiven if you had to look up some of these places on a map. The list of new locations with towers near them includes Burnham, east of Swift Current; Clayridge, northeast of Whitewood; Crescent Lake, East of Melville; Duncairn, southwest of Swift Current; Filion Lake, east of Debden; Frenchman Butte, northwest of Paradise Hill; Great Deer, west of Hepburn; Keppel, west of Perdue; Kessock, east of Yorkton; Main Centre, northwest of Morse; Meacham – East, northeast of Colonsay; Murphy Creek, southwest of Nipawin; Parkerview, southwest of Theodore