Hundreds of evacuees have been expected to arrive in Cold Lake as they escape wildfires in Saskatchewan.

According to the Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland up to 1,100 people were expected to arrive Sunday and will be staying at the Cold Lake Energy Centre.

Mayor Copeland told CTV News there were cots set up and they planned to use the cafeteria at the high school to feed everyone.

“The basic needs of the evacuees are provided for the same as our shelters we’re operating in the province with items such as cots blankets hygiene meals and kits to help keep people as comfortable as possible,” Cindy Fuchs with the Red Cross explained.

The evacuees include those from the Town of La Ronge, the Village of Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band.

Executive director of Saskatchewan’s Emergency Management and Fire Safety explained the fire near the Town of La Ronge jumped the fail-safe line Saturday night causing officials to call for an evacuation of the nearby town.

“Approximately 1,136 people were actually registered and transported out.

“Many thousands of individuals evacuated on their own.”

He estimated about 500 of those were on their way to Cold Lake.

A representative from the Ministry of Social Services said the government was still holding on to vacancies in Regina and Saskatoon, which was why people had to be sent out of their province.

“We need to maintain some capacity because our numbers will fluctuate within the province,” Kerry Kempf said.

Canada’s Minister of Defence said he expected to be sending in about 1,000 members of the army to help combat the fire.

“There is support work needed to dig ditches and that kind of manual work that we expect the army will be asked to do," Jason Kenney explained. 

Donations will not be accepted from the public at this time.

Evacuees who have questions or may be in need of support have been advised to call Canadian Red Cross, 1-888-953-3463.

Cold Lake is about 295 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

With files from Nicole Weisberg