‘Guardians of the North’ series about Sask. firefighters airs Tuesday

A new docu-series about firefighters in Saskatchewan is scheduled to premiere Tuesday night.

Guardians of the North will follow firefighters and trainees in northern and Indigenous communities as they prepare for and fight wildfires.

Shooting for the series began last June and carried over until snowfall.

The show will feature the McCafe fire near Stanley Mission, which burned more than 12,000 hectares and forced thousands of people to leave their homes last summer.

Members of the film crews weren’t allowed onto the planes and helicopters being used to fight the fires, but they were able to find a creative work-around.

“We were able to put GoPros in there,” show producer Chris Triffo said during a media event Tuesday at the Regina Flying Club.

“We had access to the pilots, we had access to frontline forest firefighters, to helicopter pilots (and) to skimmer pilots. So we had full access and that’s why this project is a really unique peek into the world that not a lot of people have experienced.”

The project is a result of a collaboration between Wavelength Entertainment, Creative Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.

Guardians of the North received $276,000 from Creative Saskatchewan, according to a media release.

Jeff Stecyk with Wavelength said the budget for each episode of the six-episode show was around $100,000, which included marketing and events such as Tuesday’s press conference.

Personnel from the Muskoday First Nation Fire Department, the Saskatchewan First Nations Emergency Management Group and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency will all be showcased in the series.

“Wildfires are exactly that — they’re absolutely wild — and humongous,” Triffo said. “We witnessed some where it was hundreds of feet high and thousands of hectares. And that is just a beast that’s just going to do what it wants, so (the firefighters) can really just do what they can to try get that fire and keep it away from communities.”

The first episode is to air Tuesday at 10 p.m., on City TV Saskatchewan.

While only six episodes are planned, Triffo said he hopes for a second season.