Latest news with #EasternManitoba
CBC
5 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
Wildfire evacuee numbers climb to more than 17,000 in Manitoba, premier says
Social Sharing The number of wildfire evacuees in Manitoba has increased, with more likely as a handful of communities remain on alert. "The numbers have continued to grow. We were saying 17,000. I think we can safely assume it's north of that number now," Premier Wab Kinew said on CBC Manitoba's Information Radio on Thursday morning. He didn't have an estimate on the total but said about 16,800 people are now registered with the Canadian Red Cross. "And keep in mind, not everyone registers with us. Some folks, they just make the decision they're going to stay with family," Kinew said. It's been eight days since he declared a provincewide state of emergency due to rapidly spreading wildfires and extreme fire conditions in northern and eastern Manitoba. Since then, the northwestern part of the province has also become a danger zone. There are 15 communities under mandatory evacuation orders and another three under voluntary evacuation. Three others — Snow Lake, Norway House and Chemawawin Cree Nation (Easterville) — are under evacuation alerts or notices, with people ordered to be ready to leave with short notice. "We are in a new reality when it comes to wildfires. Typically, we would have one part of the province dealing with challenges and … there'd be, like, maybe two communities on evacuation in other summers. This year, it's every region at the same time," Kinew said. "So that's one thing that we need to plan for in the future." The pace at which everything has been happening has also opened an unfortunate door to misinformation on social media, Kinew said. To combat that, the province is launching a digital information portal later on Thursday. "It is striking during a state of emergency how quickly false claims can make their way around social media that actually pull away time and resources from people who would otherwise be co-ordinating an evacuation effort or responding to the actual wildfires themselves," Kinew said. Watch as the northern Manitoba wildfires grow 20 hours ago Duration 1:11 Wildfires have been burning in northern Manitoba since late May, when a province-wide emergency was declared. Watch as CBC Weather Specialist Riley Laychuk tracks the fires threatening the communities of Flin Flon, Sherridon and Pukatawagan. Three days after last week's evacuation of the city of Flin Flon, rumours sprouted on social media about firefighters being killed while battling the blaze. "I realize people are driven by stress in some cases, and in other cases by a compassionate response to try and get information out there, but … to have the added stress of some false information being shared on social media was counterproductive," Kinew said. The province's info portal "will be a trusted source of information on fires, where to find evacuation supports, how [people] can help in the response," he said. The province will also begin holding regular, but not necessarily daily, news briefings. The first of those is scheduled for 12:45 p.m. Thursday. As of Wednesday (the most recent data available), a total of 513,803 hectares had burned in the province. Last year at this time, 43,141 hectares had been impacted. Manitoba's fire situation report shows there are 27 active wildfires and a total of 111 fires to date, which is well above the average of 91 for this time of year. Kinew on Thursday also defended the province's decision to send evacuees to Ontario, addressing criticisms that suggested Manitoba was unprepared to respond to the demand. "That is the Manitoba response, just to be clear," he said. The province hired a private firm to manage the evacuee response, "and they found rooms in Niagara." "Earlier in this same wildfire season, Ontario didn't have rooms and we housed more than 1,000 Ontario evacuees here. I think one of the things that we're seeing this year is that we have to have a pan-provincial — a national — response, just given the scale of the emergency we're facing." The ability to get people, within a week, out of harm's way and into shelters and provide wraparound supports is a testament to the emergency management team in Manitoba and partners like Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, the Manitoba Métis Federation and municipal leaders across northern Manitoba, Kinew said. One of the other challenges the province has had to address is ensuring thousands of evacuees, especially those in major centres like Winnipeg, are kept safe from exploitation. "It is one of the very disturbing things about this, that even in the midst of the vast, vast majority of Manitobans stepping up and donating or volunteering, that there is a small group of people who are also trying to show up and prey on evacuees," Kinew said. "You can let your mind wander to some of the really bad behaviours that this might encompass." To counter that, security guards and other resources have been installed around evacuation centres, and police are working with First Nations safety officers, he said. "If there's a criminal act going on, there's going to be accountability. Somebody's going to get arrested," Kinew said. And then there's what he calls "a fourth layer of response," meaning help from community groups in Winnipeg like the Downtown Community Safety Partnership, the Bear Clan and Ogijiita Pimatiswin Kinamatwin (OPK), an Indigenous-led organization that supports at-risk youth affected by gangs, poverty and violence. "We've been working with them to ensure that they're, in some cases, that insulating security layer around people to protect them from bad actors," Kinew said. "In other cases, this is about somebody struggling, and we do have crisis stabilization unit, public health nurses and, you know, the medical professionals at each of these shelter sites and reception centres." Mandatory evacuations are in place for: Bakers Narrows. Big Island Lake. Bissett. Cranberry Portage. Flin Flon. Little Athapapuskow cottage area. Lynn Lake. Marcel Colomb First Nation (Black Sturgeon). Nopiming Provincial Park. Parts of Whiteshell Provincial Park. Pimicikamak Cree Nation (Cross Lake). Pukatawagan (Mathias Colomb Cree Nation). Schist Lake. Sherridon. Tataskweyak Cree Nation (Split Lake). Voluntary evacuation orders are in place for: Opaskwayak Cree Nation. Snow Lake. Wanless. Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@
CBC
7 days ago
- General
- CBC
Man last seen in RM of Brokenhead on Sunday reported missing
Social Sharing A 44-year-old man has been reported missing after he was last seen leaving a home in eastern Manitoba on Sunday night. Peter Bales, 44, was last seen leaving a home in the rural municipality of Brokenhead on a bicycle around 9 p.m. Sunday, RCMP said in a Tuesday news release. He was reported missing on Monday around 12:30 p.m., police say. Bales is described as about six feet tall, weighing 130 pounds, with a buzz-cut hairstyle, police say. He was wearing a dark grey sweater and dark blue jeans when he was last seen. Bales's family and the RCMP are concerned about his well-being. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Beausejour RCMP at 204-268-2612, or to submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at this phone number, or website.
CBC
23-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Lac du Bonnet wildfire evacuees return only to find 'barren, black wasteland'
Some residents of the RM of Lac du Bonnet have returned home for the first time since the community was evacuated more than a week ago, only to find nothing but rubble left. The return of between 850 and 1,000 people who were forced to leave the community on May 13 began Wednesday evening as firefighters contained the wildfire near the eastern Manitoba community. Twenty-eight properties in the rural municipality were destroyed according to the RM. The now-4,000-hectare blaze has left vast stretches of land in the community, such as Wendigo Road, unrecognizable. Brad Wood's home on Wendigo Road was one of the properties destroyed by the fire. On Thursday, he was touring the property for a third time since the area opened to residents. Wood said seeing the devastation hasn't gotten any easier. "Every time I get in, I feel even more, I guess, heartbroke," he said. "If you look at the before pictures with the flourishing forest, the vibrant people … you just look at this and just wonder like how does that survive?" Wood built the home himself and he hoped he could move there when he retired. He said construction had just wrapped up last year, and he and his wife were just beginning to enjoy the property when the fire burned it to the ground. "There's several others on the same boat here who'd recently just finished working or were almost completed," he said. "Now you're right back to even worse than starting over." 'It's very different. It's very sad' Paula Johnson, who lives in Grausdin Point, returned Thursday. She said her area was completely missed by the fire. "It's very different. It's very sad," she said. "A lot of people … we knew them and, of course, they lost their places. You almost have survivor's guilt because your place made it and theirs didn't." Residents of Mascanow Drive, Shauman Lane and Sunlee Road were the latest allowed to return to the community. The evacuation order in those areas was lifted on Thursday at 4 p.m. The Lac du Bonnet emergency co-ordinator is asking residents to sign up for the CONNECT emergency alert system before they return home, and to prepare go-kits so they're able to leave with two hours notice. Wood said about 18 homes and cottages on Wendigo Road were destroyed by the fire, in addition to garages, sheds boats, cars and other property. Wood, who worked as a firefighter for 30 years, said he's never seen this level of destruction. He said people who've lost their homes are only beginning to make their insurance claims, and that it may take several years to rebuild. "A lot of us that we're dreaming of retiring here in the future, those aspirations may not come to fruition just strictly because the forest will not come back in that time," he said. "You look out at the lake, it's beautiful. The water's untouched. But you look to the forest behind me, it's just a barren, black wasteland." Some Lac du Bonnet evacuees return to find homes destroyed by wildfire 2 hours ago Duration 2:30 People near Lac du Bonnet are getting their first look at the devastation left behind from a wall of a wildfire in the eastern Manitoba region. After more than a week, some evacuees returning to the area are finding there's nothing left to see, as fire destroyed 28 properties in the area.
Globe and Mail
17-05-2025
- Climate
- Globe and Mail
Evacuation orders still in place in Lac du Bonnet, Man. as crews continue to battle wildfires
Evacuation orders remain in place for the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet as crews continue to battle wildfires in eastern Manitoba. While recent rainfall has helped, officials say the state of local emergency remains in place in the community where a fire destroyed 28 homes and cottages and left two people dead earlier this week. Local officials issued an update on social media saying they're hopeful they can start planning for re-entry into the evacuated areas as early as Saturday. But officials add that re-entry has yet to be recommended by the province's wildfire service. Lac du Bonnet Emergency Management says that recommendation will only come when the fire is under control and the safety of residents can be assured. There were roughly 20 other fires burning in Manitoba as of Friday, prompting the province to close some provincial parks.
CBC
17-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Calls for improved emergency notifications after some don't get evacuation alert
Some Manitobans say they never got a message telling them it was time to evacuate due to wildfires in eastern Manitoba. But others say it came too late.
