The status of Cloverdale fire near Prince Albert has now been listed as 鈥渃ontained鈥� according to officials.
At their update Thursday, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency鈥檚 VP of operations Steve Roberts confirmed that there was no growth of the fire in the past 24 hours.
As a result of that and the current favourable weather the status of the fire has been changed to 鈥渃ontained鈥�.
Roberts said growth will still occur within the perimeter and crews and suppression efforts will continue.
But the good news, Roberts said, is potential changes to road closures leading from this announcement. On that note, the city of Prince Albert has announced highway 55 would reopen at 5 p.m. Thursday, with a reduced speed limit of 60 km/h.
Roberts also reported there are no new or additional structural losses, and both the industrial site and public infrastructure in the area remain with no damage either.
Because of the progress made on the fire, smoke production from the fire is very limited.
There are a couple of other fires of interest in the province, including at Fort a la Corne and also a small fire south of Hudson Bay. That brings the total to 115 fires for the year, which is 20 above the five year average.
Over the next number of days there will be provincewide favourable conditions for firefighting efforts, with lower temperatures, lower winds and areas with precipitation starting in the province.
Joan Hrycyk of Emergency and Crisis Support reported they are supporting 40 people in hotels as of Thursday, with 19 others having also registered who have but who have left to be with family or friends or to return to their homes.
Joel Cherry from SaskPower reported crews have been working non-stop to restore the power. They had made progress on the transmission line, but encountered some issues contending with some 鈥渆xtremely difficult boggy terrain鈥� around some of the structures. They have adjusted their restore time to 8 p.m. Thursday and will provide updated information through the day.
