More people forced to leave their homes because of wildfires in Sask.

More people are being asked to evacuate as wildfires threaten some communities in northern Saskatchewan.

Residents of Dillon, St. George’s Hill and Michel Village have had to leave their homes. It’s unknown how many people have had to leave.

As for Buffalo Narrows, it is still under a state of emergency and 95 people have been transported to a variety of accommodations in Lloydminster. Others have left on their own.

“Visibility on the roads in the area has been poor due to smoke, and Buffalo Narrows RCMP accompanied buses carrying evacuees until they were out of the affected area,” the RCMP said in a release Monday. “Highway 155 between Buffalo Narrows and Ile-a-la-Crosse is closed as of the time of publication and Ile-a-la-Crosse RCMP are assisting with redirecting traffic.

“Officers are proactively patrolling evacuated communities to ensure they remain safe and secure.”

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency said people who left on their own are being supported.

Joan Hrycyk, the agency’s director of emergency and crisis support, said the SPSA is currently helping evacuees with lodging, food and other necessities in Lloydminster.

The two fires causing the evacuations are both more than 25,000 hectares in size.

As of Monday at 5 p.m., there were 33 active wildfires in the province, including 11 that were contained and seven that weren’t contained.

The total also included 14 fires that are still under assessment (the agency said those fires are “being monitored regularly to assess risk to values in the area”) and one involved the protection of property (which the agency said means “action is focused on protecting values in the area, such as cabins and infrastructure”).

It’s anticipated that the hot and dry conditions will continue at least for the rest of the week. Because of that, the SPSA does not expect people will be able to return to their homes anytime soon.

Buffalo Narrows and other communities lost their power due to a wildfire. According to SaskPower, the time of restoration is unknown — but the outage is expected to last into Tuesday.

Some travel advisories also are in effect around the Montreal River, north of Highway 2, due to a wildfire located four kilometres north of the 165 junction.

“The SPSA is asking paddlers to not use this section of the Montreal River as it would pull personnel and resources from the wildfire response if they were to become in need of rescue,” the SPSA said in a media release.

Heavy smoke is causing some issues in northern Saskatchewan — air quality statements remain in effect — and is affecting firefighting efforts.

Bryan Chartrand, the SPSA’s executive director of land operations, said right now crews are fighting the fires using an indirect attack.

“We are working away from the fire in preparation for it advancing just because we can’t get our staff into the vicinity just due to their own safety,” he said.

So far this year, Saskatchewan has experienced 162 wildfires, more than double the five-year average of 77. Chartrand said that’s mainly because of the drought the province saw in the fall.

“We just don’t have that water table that we normally have and so it’s been drier and with the winds, these fires have been taking off,” he said.

Chartrand added that all of the fires the province has seen are causing a major concern for the season.

“Hopefully we will have some reprieve with rain,” he said. “I don’t know when that’s forecasted for, but hopefully within a week or two we will get a break and we can get these contained.”

Chartrand said this is only the beginning of summer and the SPSA is not out of the woods.

Additionally, the new aircraft that was introduced earlier this month is already being used to battle fires.