Two small bush fires in and around Creighton kept firefighters busy last Sunday morning, May 8.
Creighton and Hudbay firefighters joined forces to extinguish a fire behind the Creighton soccer-football field and a second fire in the grass along the walking trail across from the Phantom Lake turnoff.
Creighton fire chief Rob Larocque said the first call came in around 5:20 am, with the second call received shortly thereafter.
He said 12 firefighters from the Creighton department attended the two incidents, and it took them about four hours to put the fires out.
The cause of the fires was unknown as of Monday morning.
“We don’t know what started it, but being by the walking path it’s kind of suspicious,” Larocque said. “But with it being so dry, it could be somebody putting a cigarette out.”
Larocque reminded residents that there is a fire ban in place in Creighton, and it’s very dry in the bush areas.
“So be careful,” he said.
Meanwhile, residents woke up to smoky air on Monday morning, a result of drift smoke coming from the major wildfires in and around Fort McMurray AB.
Kevin Buettner, fire technician with Saskatchewan Wildfire Management, said the conditions were caused by a weather shift.
“The mass of smoke [from Fort McMurray] originally was going southeast,” Buettner explained, “but the winds have turned, with a cold front pushing smoke ahead of it. Our prevailing northwest wind picked that mass of smoke up, and all that smoky air is getting pushed ahead of it.”
Based on weather patterns, Buettner estimated the smoky conditions would continue Monday and would blow through by the end of day Tuesday.
Environment Canada issued an air quality alert for the Flin Flon-Snow Lake area on Monday afternoon. The agency cited smoke drifting in from a fire in Cumberland House SK.
The department said air quality was expected to improve by Tuesday (yesterday) morning, but in the meantime the smoke had the potential to cause coughing, throat irritation, headaches or shortness of breath.
