Northern Sask. cabin owners prepare for worst as wildfires grow nearby

Kelvin Kelly hopes his supplies will save his family cabin at Candle Lake, Sask.

Just as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Kelvin Kelly searched several different hardware stores for hoses, a pump and other supplies – ingredients for a homemade sprinkler system – that he hopes will save his family cabin at Candle Lake, Sask., from any threat of nearby wildfires.

“This cabin has been in the family since 1969,” Kelly told CTV News.

Kelly’s greatest line of defence is a seven-horsepower pump that will shoot 126 gallons per minute into hoses leading up to his roof.

“It’s going to be mounted on my cabin, and we’ve got a 100-foot diameter sprinkler system,” he said, which should protect his property and at least part of his neighbours’ yards.

Earlier this week, two of the province’s largest fires merged into one. It now burns around 220,000 hectares, roughly 10 times the size of Saskatoon. The closest part of the fire is less than 20 kilometres from the village, according to the fire chief.

The Resort Village of Candle Lake in Northern Saskatchewan is under pre-alert for evacuation, but officials are asking people to voluntarily leave now to make any immediate evacuation order easier.

Kelly says it’s unlikely the fire will reach his cabin, which is on the far side of the village. But if it does, he wants to be ready.

“Because we’re lakefront, we have the good fortune. It’s got nowhere to go other than this. But we’re the last structure in its way,” he said

A few doors down, Dwight Sawatzky is packing up his valuables. He’s already taken an old Camaro and truck, boat and snowmobiles to safer ground.

“We’ve pretty much resigned that sometime in the next few days to a few weeks it’s a high likelihood none of this will be here,” he said.

“We’ll be staying here as long as we can, but not going to push it to stupidity either.”

Further north, at least 4,000 people have had to flee their homes due to raging wildfires. Seventeen active wildfires were burning across the province as of Wednesday afternoon.