The wildfire situation in Saskatchewan remains critical, and thousands of residents have been evacuated – hundreds of evacuees are staying in Cold Lake.

Cold Lake is host to one of six evacuation centres set up for La Ronge, Saskatchewan residents evacuated due to the threat posed by more than one hundred wildfires. Officials said 670 people, many of them young families, are staying in the northern Alberta city.

In all, about 9,000 people are out of their homes, the largest evacuation of its kind in Saskatchewan’s history.

“This particular fire event is different for our province, just because of the amount of hectares that are currently burning,” Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said. “Which is, by the way, about ten times the average year – but also by the number of communities that have been threatened by those fires, that’s what makes them particularly unique and dangerous.”

Firefighters from three other provinces have been called in to help.

“We have had fires that have tried to breach the community on two points, currently those fires are stable and are being held,” Steve Roberts, with the Minister of Environment for Saskatchewan said.

“The airport is secure, the town is secure and [there are] no structural losses at this time.”

For now, the hundreds of evacuees hope the situation continues to improve – meanwhile, Cold Lake’s mayor said they will all have beds in his city as long as they’re needed. There is also capacity for an additional 400 people.

“We have the capacity to take in more people, what you really want to see are people going home,” Mayor Craig Copeland said.

As for fighting the flames, Saskatchewan officials said their resources are stretched to capacity, and members of Canada’s military are being called in: nearly 1,000 troops are on their way to help. About 430 soldiers from the Edmonton Garrison are among them.

Red Cross officials said only financial donations are needed.

With files from Brenna Rose