Reeve of Man. community at risk from wildfires lauds fire prevention donation

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A rural municipality in southeast Manitoba that's frequently at risk from wildfires has received funding for a community-led initiative to conduct controlled burns aimed at fire prevention.
Tuesday's announcement of a $116,000 grant from insurance company Intact Financial to pay for equipment and volunteer training to conduct prescribed burns will have a lasting impact on Stuartburn, about 100 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, Reeve Michelle Gawronsky said.
"The brush has continued to grow and die off every year, and there's been nothing to clean it up," Gawronsky said.
"We certainly don't want to have our community at risk again."
The grant from Intact is the largest of its kind for Manitoba and will assist with the operation of Stuartburn Prescribed Burn Association, which is made up of concerned local residents.
They just want to keep the community safe, Gawronsky said. "They care about the farms and the lands around us, and wildlife, and people's homes, and people's lives."
"It breaks my heart to know that people are suffering so badly," she said. "Now we have a proactive way with local citizens in the province of Manitoba to be able to move this [initiative] forward."
The reeve told her own story of the devastating fire that forced the Stuartburn community of Vita to evacuate in 2012.
"I got a call from my son ... saying: 'Mom, what do you want from the house?' And I said: 'What do you mean?'
"And he said: 'There's a fire coming, we're not going to save the town.'"
"And when you're sitting 400 kilometres away and you're trying to think of what's most important in your home, that feeling was devastating to me."
A snowstorm followed the fire the next day and helped firefighters snuff it out before homes were destroyed. A bridge, vehicles and farmland suffered the most damage. Still, the experience stayed with Gawronsky.
The Stuartburn funding is part of Intact's Municipal Climate Resiliency Grants program, which is slated to donate $3.1 million to 19 communities across Canada.
Stuartburn plans to hold a meeting for people to learn more about the initiative at its community centre on Sept. 18.