Flames from Fort McMurray fires edging, slowly, to Saskatchewan

A fire that is raging around Fort McMurray dubbed "the beast" is edging east to the boundary with Saskatchewan, but not very quickly.

Late Saturday, officials from Saskatchewan noted that no communities in the province are in immediate danger.

They are tracking two fires in Alberta that, depending on the weather, could reach Saskatchewan.

The smaller northern fire is about 22 kilometres from the Saskatchewan border, while the larger fire is about 37 kilometres away, the province said.

"The progress of the fire is weather dependent and current projections show it movingeast toward over the next 18 hours."

The province's Wildfire Management Branch is working to fight the firein conjunction with its Alberta counterpart.

"Tanker aircraft from Saskatchewan have been attacking the fire," the statement added.

Saskatchewan is also considering a controlled burn"to remove potential fuel from the fire's projected path".

More than 500 firefighters are now battling the blaze in and around Fort McMurray, along with 15 helicopters, 14 air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment.

The Alberta government said the area damaged by fire or still burning had grown last night to 1,560 square kilometres.

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Notley said the fire is burning away from communities, but weather conditions are making fighting the fire more difficult
today.

Saskatchewan officials have also implement a total ban on fires for the northern half of the province, which is heavily forested.

In the southern part of the province, fire bans are in effect in over 100 communities.

As of Saturday morning, Saskatchewan was reporting seven wildfires in the province. Of those, two were "contained" meaning work was being done to suppress the flames and the fire is not expected to grow in size.

The other fires were classified as under "assessment", meaning a fire is being "monitored regularly to assess risk" to valuable assets in the area of the fire.