An out-of-control wildfire burning near a northern Manitoba First Nation had residents on edge, and wondering how much closer it will get, while another northern community learned late Wednesday night they are now being evacuated.
Wildfires continue to threaten multiple Manitoba communities, including an out-of-control blaze burning near Garden Hill First Nation, that as of Wednesday afternoon was approximately 52 hectares, according to the province.
Multiple social media posts showed the massive fire burning near the fly-in community, which is home to more than 4,500 people, on the north shore of Island Lake.
On Wednesday Dwayne Chornoby, who lives in the area, posted videos on his Facebook page of multiple water bombers fighting the blaze.
Chornoby said he and others are worried the fire could continue to close in depending on which way the wind blows, and he said it is already coming dangerously close to the south end of the community.
“Just from the pictures alone, it looks really close,” he said. “We’re hopeful it won’t pick up, but the winds are supposed to pick up tonight too again, so who knows?”
He added approximately 60 people were being evacuated by plane from the community on Wednesday evening.
Chornoby has not heard anything yet about the possibility of a full evacuation, but just based on what he is seeing would not be surprised if more evacuations were ordered.
“You can’t predict how the wind is going to go and how fast it’s going to move,” he said. “You can’t be assuming that it isn’t going to come, and then all of a sudden it turns and it comes straight for us and it’s too late.”
Should the community be forced into a full evacuation, Chornoby said he is concerned about how hard it will be to get the more than 4,500 community members out, and how hard those evacuations would be on elders and those with medical issues or special needs.
But he would still rather see evacuations take place if necessary, rather than putting any community members in danger from fire or smoke.
“It would be tough, but if it stays like this much longer people tend to have a hard time breathing, and people with asthma or COPD tend to have a harder time with the smoke.
“You gotta prepare and get ready for it because things can change pretty quickly.”
A few hundred kilometres to the west, the town of Snow Lake found out just how fast things can change late on Wednesday night, when a 12-hour advisory turned into a full evacuation order.
Just after 10 p.m., the town posted a mandatory evacuation notice on its Facebook page, ordering all residents to leave by Thursday at noon.
People in Snow Lake already had to flee wildfires once this year, thanks to an evacuation order that lasted just over a week in early June.
According to the province’s most recent wildfire update, three separate fires are burning, all within 25 kilometres of the town that is home to just over 1,000 residents and located 685 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
Town officials said they are particularly concerned about one out-of-control fire burning approximately 24 kilometres from the town, because they said strong southerly winds have been pushing it north.
The town added westerly winds were expected in the area on Wednesday evening, which would bring heavy smoke to the area.
A massive fire is also now threatening a provincial park in eastern Manitoba, as Manitoba Parks said on Wednesday the southern portion of Atikaki Provincial Park was closed effective 5 p.m., including the Bloodvein and Gammon river corridors and Aikens Lake. All park users are being told they must vacate the area.
The closure comes due to a blaze that is approximately 234,390 hectares and burning near the park.
Garrett Fache, the owner of Wild Loon Adventure Company, which offers guided paddling tours, top rope climbing and other outdoor experiences in the area, said the huge blaze and dry conditions have many concerned about how much worse things might get.
“It’s crazy like where it feels like you’re walking around in a fireplace just waiting for that match to come in and light everything up,” Fache said.
“Everything is primed for an explosion of fast moving fire.”
The province said Wednesday that the majority of the province continues to be at a high and extreme fire danger level, and they anticipate challenging conditions as existing fires continue to grow.
As of Wednesday the province said they are responding to 98 active wildfires across the province, while to date there have been a total of 252 wildfires in Manitoba, which is “well above” the average for this time of year.
