Forest fires sent black smoke drifting across northern Saskatchewan on Friday, preventing 2,200 people from returning to their evacuated homes.
Firefighters are trying to contain the fires, but high winds continue to fan the thick smoke into several communities.
Residents in Sandy Bay, Deschambault, Black Lake, Stony Rapids, Uranium City, and Pelican Narrows have been taken by bus to Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert.
They are being put up in hotels, dormitory rooms at a college and the University of Saskatchewan, and with family and friends.
Dave Hobden, of Saskatchewan's emergency social services department, said firefighters are gaining control over the blaze and no further evacuations orders are expected.
But he added that the evacuation represents the broadest one he has seen in Saskatchewan.
"I've been involved in the evacuations for a number of years and we've certainly had more numbers in the past but I think the number of the communities involved this time is probably the highest I've ever seen," he said.
On Thursday, about half of Sandy Bay's roughly 900 residents were told they had to leave their homes due to thick smoke from the nearby fires.
"There was a lot of smoke the whole community was covered with smoke and the nurses and the mayor and council were scared for people with asthma and people with chronic illness. So they evacuated the sick people first," Angelique Ray, an evacuee from Sandy Bay who was staying at the University of Saskatchewan, told Canada AM.
She said this summer has been the worst fire season she has seen, with the fire coming within 12 kilometres of the Sandy Bay community on Thursday.
The fire burning near Pelican Narrows, estimated to be just under nine square kilometres, is the largest and most threatening blaze, fire management official Scott Wasylenchuk told The Canadian Press.
So far, however, none of the communities is directly threatened, despite the evacuations.
Hobden said the group of evacuees includes newborn babies as young as just a few days and it has been a challenge to meet the essential needs of the evacuees, from cots to sheets and pillows.
Officials are also attempting to keep the children entertained through recreational activities.
