Firefighter from Sask. village burnt by wildfire says province gave little help

Jeremy Simes · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Nov 06, 2025 10:56 AM EST | Last Updated: November 6

A Saskatchewan firefighter who was connected the beforehand lines earlier fractional his assemblage burned down successful the summertime says the state provided fewer reinforcements.

Harley Vliegenthart said the tiny unpaid firefighting squad astatine Denare Beach hardly saw the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency successful the days earlier the blaze devastated the colony successful northeast Saskatchewan.

On Wednesday, Vliegenthart was a legislature impermanent of the Opposition NDP, which demanded Premier Scott Moe's Saskatchewan Party authorities supply answers connected however it responded to the wildfire.

"[There] were adjacent to nary reinforcements," Vliegenthart told reporters. "The [Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency], we hardly saw them passim the full situation.

"We had h2o bombers successful the aerial for [only] astir fractional an hour."

Earlier successful the day, NDP bluish affairs professional Jordan McPhail asked the state wherefore much wasn't done to prevention the assemblage wherever 700 radical lived.

"Denare Beach burned and [nearby] Flin Flon was spared," helium told the assembly.

Public Safety Minister Tim McLeod said Denare Beach was defended by much resources than McPhail alleged.

McLeod said that connected May 19, instantly aft the occurrence was reported, the bureau responded with 2 aerial tankers, helicopters and crushed crews. The occurrence grew substantially successful the pursuing days, helium added.

"[It was] highly assertive occurrence behaviour, unprecedented occurrence behaviour," McLeod said.

"These utmost fires required an indirect attack, arsenic opposed to a nonstop attack, to support the information and the well-being of our wood firefighters."

WATCH | Drone video shows cleanup successful Denare Beach:

McLeod besides accused the NDP of not being factual astir what happened.

"What I won't bash is exploit a calamity … for governmental gain," helium said.

McPhail fired back, saying helium won't beryllium lectured connected what helium and his constituents saw.

"Will that curate basal up close present and quit? Or amended yet, volition the premier basal up and occurrence him today?" helium said.

Vliegenthart said the minister's mentation of events doesn't align with what was happening connected the ground.

"Someone was dormant astatine the instrumentality and it ne'er got done to who it needed to get done to," helium said.

On the time the colony was evacuated, members of his unit had been moving astir with their "heads chopped off," installing sprinklers successful adjacent Creighton and warring flames adjacent Flin Flon, helium said.

LISTEN | Denare Beach residents rebuild arsenic temperatures drop:

In the days that followed, idiosyncratic astatine the nationalist information bureau advised the unit to get backmost to Denare Beach due to the fact that the occurrence was getting adjacent to the village, Vliegenthart said.

"I can't accidental with immoderate benignant of certainty, astatine immoderate constituent successful time, did anybody person the concern nether control," Vliegenthart said successful a aboriginal interview.

"It was a small excessively late," helium said. "It's conscionable nonaccomplishment crossed the board."

The NDP and Denare Beach colony assembly person called connected the state to bid a nationalist enquiry into the occurrence effect to guarantee everyone's perspectives are heard.

The state has declined to bash so. Instead, it said determination volition beryllium a third-party review.