A total of 20 communities are now considered active evacuations – as wildfires continue to wreak havoc across northern Saskatchewan.

As of Sunday, June 1, the communities of Timber Bay and Molanosa were added to the growing evacuations list due to activity from the nearby Ditch Fire, which is estimated to have doubled from its initial size of 10,000 hectares.

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) is instructing those in Timber Lake to travel to Regina for lodging – located more than 400 kilometres away.

Steve Roberts, the vice president of operations with the SPSA, says this is due to province-wide capacity issues.

“Our preference would be the closest town, keeping entire communities and families intact. Now, we have pretty much occupied every available space, right from the north all the way down to Weyburn,” he explained during a briefing Sunday afternoon.

“The Canoe Lake individuals actually had to evacuate and move into Alberta.”

Approximately 8,000 residents have been forced to evacuate their homes in the face of fires approaching their communities or threatening to cut off vital evacuation routes.

The threat of the latter by the Club Fire has caused the evacuation of Creighton and Denare Beach – in addition to the city of Flin Flon across the Manitoba border.

According to Roberts, the Club Fire has grown to an estimated 25,000 hectares – which only includes the Saskatchewan portion of the blaze.

“This fire is extremely large on both sides of the border. The [estimate] will actually grow today based on fire activity overnight,” he explained.

The Shoe Fire remains Saskatchewan’s largest – covering an estimated 305,000 hectares – up from 216,000 hectares when the province declared a state of emergency on May 29.

“Based on our fire activity and the weather I described earlier, the provincial fire ban continues in all the northern portions of the province and provincial parks in the area, and all communities in the northern municipal administration district,” Roberts said.

There are currently 15 active wildfires in Saskatchewan – down from 17 fires late last week.

Over the past several days, Roberts says fire crews have extinguished some smaller blazes while other fires, like the Point Fire and Pelican Fire, have combined – leading to the smaller total.

Wildfires in the province have now claimed upwards of 80 “values,” which include buildings and other pieces of infrastructure.

Work continues to protect the resort village of Candle Lake. The community faced a voluntary evacuation notice prior to the province’s state of emergency.

“The fuel break adjacent to Highway 120, east of Candle Lake is progressing well, with multiple pieces of heavy equipment, bulldozers clearing that back to provide a potential barrier should the fire move towards that community,” Roberts added.

The province continues to mobilize firefighting resources from across Canada and the United States, with equipment and personnel arriving from Quebec, Alaska, British Columbia, Oregon and Arizona.

There have been 214 wildfires so far this year – up from the five-year average of 129.

Roberts says that the SPSA hopes to maintain the current evacuation numbers, noting that some communities, such as Canoe Lake, have already begun to see residents return as fire conditions stabilize.