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By paNOW Staff

Wildfire strategy

Sask. NDP introduces bill to establish wildfire strategy; SPSA acknowledges room for improvement

Dec 2, 2025 | 5:35 PM

Trevor Sewap quit as the fire base supervisor for Pelican Narrows this past summer, when wildfires raged across northern Saskatchewan. He said it was out of pure frustration.

“The government wanted to run from the fire and they left behind people with only their running shoes and no proper equipment to try to save the community,” Sewap said. “No one listened to me or anyone else with experience. That can’t happen again — I’ve been fighting fires since before many of the people calling the shots were born.”

Sewap is supporting the Saskatchewan NDP’s Bill 609, The Saskatchewan Wildfire Strategy Act, which would require the Ministry of Public Safety to create and regularly update a provincial wildfire management strategy, maintain ongoing consultation with experts and Indigenous community partners, and ‘provide clear, transparent public reporting.’

Kari Lentowicz echoes Sewap’s thoughts. Her home burned in Denare Beach. With her extensive background in disaster and emergency management, she said the government needs to involve the local people and realize their years of experience in their environment has significant value that should be integrated into preparedness planning and leveraged during response.

“Many of us were there and were ignored — utilizing local knowledge, listening to those outside the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency with years of wildfire experience, and acknowledging help outside the existing SPSA was necessary and would have prevented a disaster of this scale,” Lentowicz said.

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“There is also the need for accountability for everything that was lost.”

Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) President Marlo Pritchard said his agency did bring in experts to help during the wildfire season, including retired firefighters who had decades of experience both in Denare Beach and Pelican Narrows, as well as other regions.

“We relied heavily on those decades of experience. We worked closely with community leaders through EOCs to understand concerns and we also brought in experts through our international compact,” said Pritchard. “When we brought in other firefighters, they brought in a number of fire behaviour specialists and even today, we honoured volunteer fire departments who responded to all of these areas.”

He said he’d be happy to speak with anyone who felt their expertise could have been utilized and wasn’t.

He also reiterated the SPSA’s priorities when it comes to fighting wildfires: life first, community second. But he added priorities can change by the minute depending on the action of the fire.

The Sask. NDP continues to call for a full public inquiry into the government’s response. In the meantime, there is a third-party ‘after-action review of the 2025 wildfire season’ being commissioned by the government.

“We’ll look at what went well, what did not go well and where we can improve. We look at continuous improvement all the time. This year, we’re going to a third-party independent review that has all kinds of experience in regards to other provinces that experienced similar losses and impacts from wildfire and they will be reaching across the province and we’ll see what those recommendations are and how quickly we can implement some of those recommendations,” said Pritchard.

“There is always room for improvement.”

It’s anticipated the review will be completed prior to the 2026 wildfire season.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com