The bodies of a man and a woman who got trapped as a wildfire burned near the community of Lac du Bonnet in southeastern Manitoba were recovered by police Wednesday morning, RCMP say.
“This has been an incredibly challenging time for the community, and no doubt today’s tragic news will make it even more difficult,” Supt. Chris Hastie, commander of Manitoba RCMP’s East District, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Mounties got a report Tuesday that people had been stranded by the out-of-control wildfire in the area, but first responders couldn’t get to them until Wednesday morning because of the extreme conditions.
By the time officers arrived, “we were able to confirm our worst fears,” said Hastie, adding police can’t confirm the victims’ identities until their autopsies are done. It’s believed they died from injuries sustained in the fire, he said.
The bodies were discovered just off Wendigo Road in the rural municipality of Lac du Bonnet, about 100 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, said Hastie, adding there are no additional reports of unaccounted people related to the wildfire there.
As of Wednesday afternoon, that fire — one of more than 20 burning across Manitoba — was estimated to be about 4,000 hectares in size.
Another fire northeast of the Lac du Bonnet area, near Manitoba’s Nopiming Provincial Park along the Ontario border, was listed as being 100,000 hectares on Wednesday.
Loren Schinkel, the RM of Lac du Bonnet’s reeve, said the deaths will rock what he described as “a very close-knit community.”
“I think it’s needless to say that the whole community will be grieving with the family,” Schinkel said at the news conference.
Hastie said while he knows people are anxious to check on their properties, he asked residents to avoid the active fire area and let crews do their work, since conditions can change quickly.
There are already dangers in the area such as hot spots, downed hydro lines and structures that have become unsafe, he said.
As well, drone activity in the region had already resulted in some firefighting aircraft being grounded, said Hastie.
RCMP are also at three checkpoints along Highway 313, which runs east from the town of Lac du Bonnet, to ensure only emergency vehicles are allowed into the active fire zone, he added.
Hundreds have already been forced out of the cottage country community in eastern Manitoba, as the raging wildfire near Lac du Bonnet quickly grew in intensity through the late afternoon and evening Tuesday.
There was a significant loss of buildings around the community’s Wendigo Beach area, Schinkel said Wednesday morning.
Hot weather, dry conditions and very windy days have caused multiple fires to erupt in Manitoba, forcing people out of their homes and burning buildings — and forecast rain is not enough to help much, fire officials said Wednesday.
Six states of emergency have been declared in Manitoba, and several provincial parks, local authorities, northern communities and cottage subdivisions have issued mandatory evacuation orders.
The fires in the Lac du Bonnet and Nopiming areas are among five listed as out-of-control on the provincial fire map as of Wednesday afternoon.
Christine Stevens, an assistant deputy minister with Manitoba’s Emergency Management Organization, said at Wednesday’s news conference the province is “doing everything it can to make sure that people are safe.”
That includes the closure of the nearby Whiteshell Provincial Park on Thursday morning, she said.
Another out-of-control fire near the community of Libau, about 50 kilometres west of Lac du Bonnet, was listed Wednesday as being about 5,000 hectares in size.
While those fires were all detected in the last few days, the province also continues to battle an out-of-control wildfire near the northwestern Manitoba town of The Pas that’s been burning since May 3. As of Wednesday, that fire was estimated to have reached 42,650 hectares in size.
