Minister says review will improve wildfire response

Winnipeg Free Press

01-08-2025

Manitoba's natural resources minister has said his government is keen to review the way it co-ordinates resources to better support municipalities in future wildfire seasons.
Ian Bushie and his provincial and territorial counterparts discussed the need for more comprehensive wildfire management plans and resource sharing, at the annual meeting of the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers last month.
'We are there talking with municipalities, talking with First Nation communities as to how we can support going forward, how we can support this real-time as best we can,' Bushie said Thursday.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES
Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie, left, has acknowledged the need for a more comprehensive wildfire response plan.
Bushie said while there has been significant resource sharing between provinces and from other countries, firefighting crews have been strained right across Canada during this extreme wildfire season.
Canada is on track to have the second-worst wildfire season in history; as of Thursday, fires had consumed more than 6.3 million hectares of land.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, based in Winnipeg, reported on its online dashboard that 3,674 blazes have been sparked in Canada so far this year, including 47 that started on Thursday alone.
'At the end of the season, we'll see where we can best utilize the additional resources, where they can best be put in place,' Bushie said.
Kathy Valentino, a councillor for the City of Thompson, wants provincial and federal governments to implement a national strategy to provide relief to municipalities.
Valentino, who is vice-president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, is asking the federal government for a $2-billion infrastructure investment so municipalities can prepare for scenarios such as mass evacuations owing to natural disasters.
On Thursday, Thompson renewed its state of emergency and the city's 15,000 residents remain on a 12-hour notice to evacuate as three wildfires burn nearby.
Valentino said if it came time to order everyone out, it would be a logistical nightmare.
'There's only one highway in and out of Thompson, so when we were going through this a couple of weeks ago, when things were pretty intense, we were thinking, 'how would we get like 15,000 people out?'' she said. 'There has to be a federal strategy about this.'
Amid Manitoba's fire season, Valentino said Thompson's municipal resources have been used elsewhere to support evacuees or attend meetings about wildfires and coordinate efforts. It means Thompson residents having a difficult time reaching staff for municipal issues.
Valentino said a nationwide plan to prevent and react to wildfires must be considered when the wildfire season winds down so other towns and cities don't grind to a halt like Thompson has.
'We can never stop this from happening, but how we react to it happening can be a real collaborative approach,' Valentino said. 'I never thought something like this would happen to us.'
In Manitoba, 362 fires have burned more than 1.5 million hectares of land.
The federal government said it is discussing how better to support communities affected by, or at risk of, wildfires.
Ottawa has a disaster mitigation and adaptation fund to help communities reduce the risk and impact of natural hazards.
'(The fund) currently supports a range of large-scale, long-term resilience projects, including wildfire mitigation, but ongoing discussions at the federal level are focused on identifying where further investments or program adjustments may be needed,' a spokesperson from Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada said in an email.
Bushie said once the fires die down and the province can put a price tag on the damage, discussions will begin about how to better support municipalities, including by enhancing infrastructure.
The minister said removing jurisdictional barriers must be part of the conversation.
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In late May, a massive wildfire that started near Creighton, Sask., jumped the border into Manitoba and headed toward the town of Flin Flon. At the time, Flin Flon deputy mayor Alison Dallas-Funk told the Free Press she was frustrated Manitoba wildland firefighters couldn't cross the border into Saskatchewan because they had to wait for Saskatchewan officials to request help.
The fire destroyed 200 homes in the nearby community of Denare Beach, Sask.
'That's a first part of the conversation today: how can we help? How can we get involved and worry about the jurisdictional issues later on?' Bushie said.
'We're all hands on deck.'
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Nicole BuffieMultimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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