Thousands of hotel rooms opened for wildfire evacuees from Western Canada

Globe and Mail

2 days ago

Rain and cooler temperatures on the Prairies offered little to no respite from multiple wildfires burning in the region, as provinces opened thousands of hotel rooms for evacuees from Western Canada.
More than 190 wildfires were active across the country Monday, with 97 deemed out of control. Hazardous smoke and thick fumes reached beyond the Canadian border, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which issued air-quality warnings from Minnesota to Florida.
Manitoba was forced to send people for shelter to Southern Ontario, with the province struggling to find lodging capacity for more than 17,000 residents who fled from their homes. Saskatchewan and Alberta, at the same time, ordered evacuations for dozens more communities.
'You can imagine the stress for the people on the ground,' Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told reporters Monday at a first ministers' meeting in Saskatoon.
'As a nation, we're going to have to contend with future fire seasons being more and more like this, which means scaling up our firefighting capability.'
Both Manitoba and Saskatchewan declared provincewide states of emergency last week.
The little precipitation that fell Monday in Manitoba did not make much of a dent for firefighters, and officials have warned there is increased risk this week from possible lightning. The province is grappling with 25 active wildfires.
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Mr. Kinew said the crews are doing their best to scale up capacity for evacuees, who have been flown in mostly from northern communities. He expects nearly 1,000 more hotel rooms to open by Tuesday in Winnipeg, where a handful of large arenas and soccer fields have been converted into shelters.
But in the meantime, he said, Ontario hotels are opening several thousand rooms for Manitoba's evacuees.
'It's in these moments of emergency, and in these moments of crisis, where you see the true nature of Canadians shine through,' Mr. Kinew said.
Irene Blacksmith from Pimicikamak Cree Nation was one of hundreds of people sent more than 2,000 kilometres away to Niagara Falls, Ont. After arriving without any family on Sunday, she was relieved to reunite with some of her cousins Monday.
'I remember when I first got to Winnipeg before they asked if I wanted to go someplace else that was more comfortable. My lungs were still filled with all that smoke,' Ms. Blacksmith said by phone.
'All I wanted was for some place I could sleep in. But the children crying loudly there, and the cot in that soccer field's evacuation shelter – I just had no way. I'm so grateful for this warm bed and the warmness they have shown us here."
In Saskatchewan, where 19 large fires were active, eight of which were uncontained, Premier Scott Moe said he expects more evacuations this week. The province has recorded 222 wildfires this year – well over its five-year average of 131.
Mr. Moe's government has already ordered around 8,000 people from at least 20 communities to flee their properties. On Monday, the areas surrounding Sucker River, Wadin Bay, English Bay, La Ronge and Nemeiben Subdivision were added to that list.
The province has not asked for military support like Manitoba because the Canadian Armed Forces have limited firefighting capacity and residents have not yet needed to be air lifted, said Steve Roberts, vice-president of operations at the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.
He told reporters at a briefing Monday that Saskatchewan officials also 'have feelers out' for spaces in other provinces, such as Alberta, should evacuees need them.
Northern Saskatchewan, far from the fires, has received some rain. 'But we still have a number of days of extreme fire weather in front of us,' Mr. Roberts said.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her province is now calling back firefighters who had been sent to other parts of the country. She is restarting her cabinet ministers' emergency management committee to respond to wildfires that she said have grown from about 9,000 hectares to more than 400,000 within the last week.
'The wind has dramatically changed our situation,' Ms. Smith said from Saskatoon, adding Alberta has evacuated nearly 5,000 people so far.
But Kevin Hampton, owner of the Coal Branch Hotel in the western Alberta hamlet of Robb, says he felt he had to defy the evacuation orders last week.
'In the past during fires, a lot of nefarious characters have come in the back ways and robbed places,' he said Monday.
'I've got too much skin in the game here.'
Communities in British Columbia, meanwhile, were told to be ready to flee at a moment's notice near the Peace River Regional District, which has already been largely evacuated. The province had 71 active fires Monday, with B.C. officials indicating potential for more to start in the southeast and northeast regions this week.