Snow Lake put on evacuation alert as wildfires advance from northwestern Manitoba

The rapid growth of a massive wildfire in northwestern Manitoba has put yet another threatened community on alert.

The Town of Snow Lake declared a local state of emergency on Tuesday and implemented an evacuation alert as a precaution, giving people a chance to get themselves and large belongings out before further restrictions kick in.

“It’s still about 20 kilometres away, but based on advice from [Manitoba] Conservation — they were actually quite surprised at the speed that these fires were moving — we decided to issue a 48-hour voluntary evacuation,” Snow Lake Mayor Ron Scott said on Wednesday morning.

“The situation is evolving fairly quickly and we may end up having to issue a mandatory evacuation order. Now that hasn’t happened yet, but we want to give as many people the option of getting out of town with any big items as soon as possible.”

Snow Lake is about 120 kilometres directly east of Flin Flon but “due to the west and northwest winds, [the fire] has been pushed quite quickly over towards our area,” shrouding the sky with smoke that’s making the air thick and discoloured, Scott said.

“The air is very, very smelly of smoke, but visibility is still fairly good this morning. It’s just hour by hour at this point.”

For the first 24 hours of the evacuation alert, people who chose to leave were allowed to take pull-behind equipment such as trailers, boats and campers.

Once the latter 24 hours of the alert started on Wednesday morning, that type of equipment was banned due to limited capacity on the roads, Scott said.

There is no immediate threat to public safety, but everyone should be prepared in case conditions change and a mandatory evacuation becomes necessary, says a notice from the town issued Tuesday with the alert.

“Ensure essential items are packed, vehicles are fuelled, and plans are in place,” it says.

The fire near Flin Flon was listed Tuesday as being 37,959 hectares and out of control. A mandatory evacuation order continues for that city as well as Big Island Lake, Schist Lake, the Little Athapapaskow cottage area and Bakers Narrows.

That fire joined earlier this week with the one near Sherridon, which is 112,185 hectares and also out of control, and they are now close to linking with the one near Pukatawagan Cree Nation (Mathias Colomb), which is 9,785 hectares.

“[The voluntary evacuation] is giving people an opportunity to move now, and then if we do have to move to a mandatory evacuation, then there’s fewer people in town to worry about,” said Scott, who believes “several hundred” took advantage of the opportunity.

The town has about 1,100 permanent residents but there is also a camp that houses 400-450 employees of the Hudbay Minerals mine.

Snow Lake has also been hosting quite a few families who were evacuated from Flin Flon, said Scott, who estimated there were about 1,700 people in town before the evacuation alert was issued.

“It’s a strange situation. I’ve never seen a fire season like this before,” he said about people like those from Flin Flon having to evacuate one place and then another.

The HudBay mine on Wednesday sent out a news release saying it has suspended operations in Snow Lake and only essential personnel, authorized by emergency services, are staying behind to assist with emergency activities.

Many of the employees have been spending time setting up sprinklers and other water systems in anticipation of the approaching fire, according to Scott.

Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email [email protected].

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