In 2025, there were more than 500 wildfires in Saskatchewan and 2.9 million hectares burned. More than 10,000 people were evacuated at the height of the fires and 400 structures in the province were destroyed, half of those in Denare Beach.
Saskatchewan Volunteer Fire Fighter Association president Aaron Buckingham says the conditions last year allowed the fires to spread rapidly and made for some of the most intense fires crews have seen.
“Most people that were there were saying it was the most dense and the most volatile fires they’d ever been to. And I would agree with that. There was areas there that, you know, a small area where you put 13,000 gallons of water in and it didn’t cool it,” Buckingham said.
Communities were heavily impacted, along with businesses, like outfitters, who have seen a large majority of their land burn down, creating unknowns heading into 2026.
“We cancelled pretty well all of our fishing groups, no bear hunts in the fall. In the end, we ended up with about 95 per cent, maybe even a little more of our whole area burnt,” Bearadise Bay Wilderness Camp president Stu Rasmussen said.
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Kari Lentowicz from Denare Beach saw more than 270 properties burn down. She has started advocacy work for her community, saying it has helped her through the tough times. Work to rebuild Denare Beach with water and sewage systems is still ongoing.
Premier Scott Moe faced a lot of criticism from both Denare Beach residents and the Opposition NDP for not going to visit the community sooner. In his year-end review with Global News, Moe apologized.
“We were making those decisions along the way and we had much else going on in the world, the international space, and there’s no shortage of things to be doing. And we were making those decisions … to support the community of Denare Beach, East Trout Lake and others,” Moe said.
“I should have went there earlier to listen to people and to very vocally in front of them, looking at them face to face, eye to eye, telling them that this is a government that is going to be there to support them, to support them through this tragedy, to support in the months and the years ahead in the rebuilding of their community. And so that was a mistake that I made personally, as I should have been there sooner. It’s one that I apologize to the council and to residents for. And it’s one mistake that I shouldn’t make again.”
Lentowicz says that in the future, she would like to see the government working with residents of the communities who know the land and have real input on how to help stop the fires.
“They need to listen to us, strategize with us, meet with us before wildfire season starts. And when crap hits the fan and you’ve got somebody who’s got 36 years of experience telling you he knows what he can do with the resources that you can make available to him, listen to him.”
Watch the video above for more on how people were affected by wildfires in 2025.
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