An independent review of Saskatchewan’s 2025 wildfire season found the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency was not fully prepared for the scale of last year’s disaster, while the province says it is moving immediately on 11 actions to improve wildfire response. The review was conducted by MNP, a firm hired by the province last fall to [...] The post Review finds SPSA not fully prepared for record Wildfire season first appeared on Prince Albert Daily Herald .
An independent review of Saskatchewan’s 2025 wildfire season found the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency was not fully prepared for the scale of last year’s disaster, while the province says it is moving immediately on 11 actions to improve wildfire response. The review was conducted by MNP, a firm hired by the province last fall to conduct an independent review of the 2025 wildfire season. The review looked at SPSA’s work on prevention, preparedness, response, evacuations and recovery. Community Safety Minister Michael Weger said during a Friday press conference in Saskatoon that MNP’s team included specialists in trauma-informed practice and public and Indigenous engagement, and had experience with post-incident wildfire assessments in British Columbia and Alberta. The report says the 2025 wildfire season was Saskatchewan’s worst on record, with 514 wildfires burning about 2.9 million hectares and more than 10,000 people evacuated. MNP said the review was not a forensic audit and was not intended to assign fault. However, the report found significant gaps in prevention, mitigation and emergency preparedness. “While the SPSA had some foundational planning and structures, it was not fully prepared for a wildfire season of the scale and complexity seen in 2025,” the report says. The report also flagged evacuation planning. It said evacuation alerts and orders were inconsistent, often delayed and lacked standardized triggers or communication pathways. It also said host communities frequently received little notice of incoming evacuees, leaving them underprepared. MNP found the Emergency and Community Support system relied on outdated, paper-based registration processes that quickly collapsed under high volumes of evacuees, leading to backlogs, duplicate files and data accuracy issues. The report also said Saskatchewan did not have a provincial recovery strategy at the start of the season. It said recovery work across the province was ad hoc, inconsistent and lacking strategic coordination. The findings connect with issues that continued to surface during wildfire coverage this year. During the evacuation supports, local communication and the role of SPSA remained central questions for residents and local leaders. Speaking at the Saskatoon press conference, Weger acknowledged Friday that the agency has to improve. “After reading this 107 page review, it is clear the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency must do better,” Weger said. “As the minister responsible for the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, I’m here to tell you that I believe the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency can and will do better.” The province’s response includes 11 actions, including an organizational structure review of SPSA, daily Provincial Emergency Operations Centre calls during emergencies, better communication with affected communities, improved fire modelling and detection technology, a FireSmart Grant Program and community wildfire reservists. SPSA officials had discussed detection technology during an April technical briefing before the wildfire season. At that time, vice-president Steve Roberts said Saskatchewan had 42 wildfire detection towers with cameras, and that the camera system used software to identify anomalies that could be smoke before staff verified whether they were actual fire starts. The response also includes improved procurement, permanent recovery task teams and post-incident reviews involving affected communities. Weger said many of the actions came from conversation with northern leaders, residents and business owners affected by last year’s fires. He said the community wildfire reservist idea came after listening to residents from Denare Beach, Wadin Bay and the La Ronge area. “I truly believe, as you do, that no one knows the community better than the community members themselves,” Weger said. SPSA president Marlo Pritchard also told reporters that the agency had already begun making changes before the MNP review was released, including work on evacuation registration and support systems. He said some of those changes were tested during evacuations tied to the lobstick fire this year and “worked better,” although the agency is still working to improve the system. “The ultimate responsibility is myself as president,” Pritchard said. “I have committed to my board, to my minister, that we can do better. The Saskatchewan NDP, in a statement released shortly after the MNP report, said the review confirms serious failures in the province’s wildfire response and renewed criticism of the government for rejecting calls for a public inquiry. “One thing that this report is missing is an apology from Scott Moe and Tim McLeod to those who lost their homes and communities,” NDP Leader Carla Beck said in the statement. Jordan McPhail, the NDP’s Shadow Minister for Northern Affairs and MLA for Cumberland, also said in the statement that the government damaged trust with northern Saskatchewan during the wildfires. “Scott Moe, Tim McLeod and the entire Sask. Party government broke trust with Northern Saskatchewan during the wildfires, and have done nothing to regain that trust,” McPhail said. The report’s release had already been raised during a June 1 SPSA media availability on the Lobstick and Cayford fires. At the time, Premier Scoot Moe said the province intended to release the review when it was available and act on recommendations “sooner rather than later” Weger said the government received the final MNP report on May 22 and has spent the part three weeks working on action items. He said the work now is to set goals and milestones for what can be done next week, next month and before next year.
