TV series about northern Sask. wildfires set for 2nd season

Wildfires ravaged much of Saskatchewan last summer, leaving first responders fighting to tame the flames of one of the most extreme wildfire seasons the province has ever seen.

A film crew was on the ground in northern Saskatchewan, documenting the journey of firefighters and First Nation responders for the second season of the TV series Guardians of the North.

"The winds were high and you didn't know what you were gonna get from day to day," said Avery Legare, a fire base supervisor in La Ronge who is featured in the show. 

"It's some of the worst that I've seen in 15 years of working fires, and I've been all over Canada and into the States."

The six-part docuseries gives viewers a glimpse into the dangerous work that responding crews face after a community is evacuated due to approaching wildfires.

Crews from Saskatchewan First Nations Emergency Management and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency are the focus of the series. 

"It's not an easy job. It's not a fun job," said Legare. "You get beat up lots of days, but it's rewarding at the end."

An unprecedented year  

Film crews had planned to start production on the second season of Guardians of the North last summer, but with reduced snow cover last year, wildfires broke out earlier than expected. 

That meant they had to begin filming in May, after receiving a call from responder crews that the northern wildfires had broken out. 

"So we had to get up to speed very quickly, a month earlier, to try to capture some of the exciting action that happened in May," said Chris Triffo, a producer for the show.

"It was such an unprecedented year. So we had a lot more storylines up in the air."

Triffo said crews ultimately made filming decisions based on safety and conducted thorough assessments about where to take their cameras.

"We're not allowed to go to situations that are extremely dicey," said Triffo. "Once the situation is deemed safe, then we are allowed to go to some of those." 

The key to capturing these moments is being in the right place at the right time, he said.

"We also had the advantage of giving small cameras to firefighters. So in some of the real dicey situations where we can't go, we're able to film those through the eyes of the firefighters with small cameras that we can equip them with."

Showcasing Saskatchewan

Provincial Public Safety Minister Paul Merriman believes the film industry in Saskatchewan is in a period of being revamped.

"It's very important that we showcase what we have here in Saskatchewan," said Merriman, who attended a screening for the TV series on Thursday.

"Not just in news releases and not just politicians talking about it, but what real people are experiencing in Saskatchewan and how we are working together with our Indigenous communities, with our northern communities."

Wavelength Entertainment, which produced the series, received $280,000 in financial support from the province through Creative Saskatchewan's feature film and TV production grant. 

The six-episode series will begin airing on March 5 at 10 p.m on Citytv.