Last June, Kari Lentowicz was among hundreds of others in the small northern Saskatchewan village of Denare Beach who lost their homes due to record-breaking wildfires.
“We lost our home, we lost our sleds, our outbuildings, and we lost a lot of our community in regards to people and neighbours,” Lentowicz told Global News in an interview.
Over 200 homes were destroyed in the small community, with many residents still displaced in hotels in Saskatoon, over five hours away, said Lentowicz.
“A lot of people are having a lot of difficulty mentally and emotionally because of that displacement.”
In the 10 months since, community members have been working to rebuild the community — from cleaning up wreckage to bringing in ready-to-move homes to replace those lost.
But as this year’s wildfire season inches closer, the community is bracing for impact.
“Anytime we smell smoke, we get a little antsy and a little apprehensive as to what’s coming,” said Lentowicz.
Despite the loss experienced last year, communities like Denare Beach are not in the clear this year.
“The chances of it coming back from a different direction are still there. And it’s incredible how fast nature will reproduce and put some more vegetation, and that can dry out and burn too,” said Colin Laroque, an environmental science professor and soil science department head at the University of Saskatchewan.
Laroque says wildfire seasons are becoming increasingly severe, with the trend likely to continue this summer.
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“It’s just not a matter of ‘will it burn?’ We know it will burn. It’s how bad is it going to be because there’s a lot of fuel out there, so we’re getting ready for it,” he said.
At a technical briefing Wednesday, Saskatchewan’s Public Safety Agency (SPSA) said it anticipates this year’s wildfire season may be less severe than last year’s due to the extended winter weather. However, the severity of the season will largely depend on short-term weather trends late in the summer.
Laroque agrees with the public safety agency’s predictions, saying there is good snowpack in the northern part of the province that will indicate how things will look when it begins to melt in the coming weeks.
The agency also said it is “more prepared than ever” to respond to this year’s wildfires, adding that it has put significant effort into recovering Denare Beach. This includes cleaning up burned areas to ushering in temporary housing.
“We will continue to monitor that, provide those supports as needed to get the community up and operational here over the next coming months,” said SPSA vice-president Steve Roberts.
But Lentowicz says she is struggling to believe the public safety agency after last year’s destruction.
“A lot of us are pretty apprehensive,” she said, adding that her community was told the province was prepared last year.
“Moving forward, the provincial government needs to have a public inquiry in order to regain our trust. And they need to put the recommendations of the constituents in this area into action,” she said.
The province launched an independent review into its 2025 wildfire response last fall, which was initially slated to conclude before this wildfire season. But the findings are delayed, and it’s currently unknown when the review will be complete.
“In consultation with MNP, it was determined that some additional time would be required to ensure that the review was comprehensive, and also included the involvement of some fire behaviour specialists as well,” said Michael Weger, Saskatchewan’s public safety minister, at Wednesday’s SPSA technical briefing.
The province is allocating $138.5 million towards the SPSA in this year’s budget — up $19.6 million from the year before.
Last year’s wildfire season cost the government $392 million in extra expenses, according to its latest budget, accounting for the largest portion of the $970 million in over-budget spending.
Critics previously questioned the lack of additional funding for wildfire responses, which the province defends, saying it will allocate funding to wildfire response when required.
But wildfires in Saskatchewan are the new normal, said Laroque, adding that the government could act more proactively through preventive maintenance, though this is not happening due to budgetary restraints.
“Until we basically burn every tree in Saskatchewan, they’re in trouble,” said Laroque.
“So they have to start to do something sooner than later, otherwise they start to dig into your pockets and pull up the pieces after the fact, because there’s no hope of getting in.”
Regarding this year’s preparedness levels, Laroque said he does not think the province is far off from last year’s.
“In Saskatchewan, what they did last year was nothing. And then this year, what they’re doing is a little bit better than nothing, but we’re very close to nothing,” he said.
Last year, the province saw more than 500 wildfires that burned nearly three million hectares of land and forced thousands to evacuate.
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