Eight flights carrying about 400 wildfire evacuees from Northwestern Ontario will land in Regina today.

They are coming from a remote First Nations community near the Manitoba border called Pikangikum and will be set up in 500 available dormitory rooms at the University of Regina and 150 hotel rooms set aside in the city.

Vice President of Operations for Saskatchewan Public Safety Duane McKay says they will place evacuees Saskatoon and Prince Albert after Regina’s capacity is exhausted.

He feels they have been able to mobilize quickly to host about 2-thousand people because of experience gained during other wildfire evacuations.

The majority of evacuees don’t speak English so translators have been called in, in addition to making sure the evacuees get meals and comfortable accommodations.

The first flight landed in Regina at about 10:30 this morning (Thurs).

(CJWW)