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CTV News
5 days ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Manitoba says close to 13,000 out in renewed round of wildfire evacuations
Firefighters arrive at the Flin Flon airport, as wildfires burn in northern Manitoba on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government says close to 13,000 people are out of their homes due to wildfires, but hundreds are finding space in hotels rather than in congregate shelters. Provincial officials say they've found space for 705 more people in hotels, while others are either with family or friends or in one of four shelters in Winnipeg. This is the second round of fire evacuations in what has been the province's worst fire season in decades. Last week, fires forced thousands out of Garden Hill First Nation, north of Winnipeg, but officials say crews have so far managed to keep the flames away from any buildings. Some electricity infrastructure has been damaged near the evacuated community of Lynn Lake. Fires have also managed to keep flames at bay near the city of Thompson, which has 13,000 residents. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2025. Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press
CTV News
15-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Military says over 1,000 people flown from fire-threatened Manitoba community
A C-130 Hercules aircraft is seen in Norway House, Man., Tuesday, June 3, 2025 as members of the Royal Canadian Air Force help evacuees. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski The Canadian Armed Forces says it's evacuated over a thousand residents of a northern Manitoba community threatened by a wildfire, while towns and villages in the province are welcoming cooler weather they say is helping firefighters. The military began removing people from Garden Hill First Nation on CC-130 Hercules transport airplanes on Friday, and it says that as of Sunday afternoon, over 1,550 have been flown to Winnipeg. Capt. Wyatt Shorter with Joint Operations Command says there are no more people waiting to leave Garden Hill, but a Hercules is on standby in Winnipeg in case anyone else needs a flight out. The community is about 500 kilometres north of Winnipeg and is not accessible by road. Manitoba declared its second provincewide state of emergency of the year last week as wildfires continue to rage. Prime Minister Mark Carney says in a social media post that the federal government is working with First Nations and other orders of government to fight the fires, and stands ready to supply additional support. 'Wildfires have been worsening, especially across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. On behalf of Canadians, my ongoing gratitude to all the first responders on the front lines of this crisis,' Carney wrote. But communities like the City of Thompson, where residents are told to be ready to evacuate if conditions deteriorate, posted on social media on Sunday that light winds, low temperatures, rain and higher humidity are giving firefighting crews time to bolster defences. The community's fire update on Sunday included an aerial photo of a nearby snowmobile shelter and outhouse, which the update said survived a low intensity burn that swept through the area earlier in the week. The update said Monday's forecast was expected to be cool, and Environment Canada's forecast says to expect a temperature of 16 C. Thompson is set to welcome 20 firefighters from Mexico to help fight nearby wildfires, and the city says an incident management team from Australia is arriving on Wednesday. The Manitoba government said Friday over 12,000 people were out of their homes, and it gave notice that it intended to use Winnipeg's major convention centre to house more evacuees. The Canadian Red Cross said in a statement Sunday that it is co-ordinating logistics for congregate shelters in Winnipeg. Canada's emergency management minister said in a statement Sunday that over the weekend she approved an additional request for federal assistance from the provincial government. Eleanor Olszewski noted the most recent assistance would be put toward humanitarian workforce support for emergency evacuation and sheltering activities. 'I am in regular contact with my counterpart in Manitoba. Our government will act fast if more help is needed,' Olszewski said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2025. The Canadian Press
CTV News
12-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Evacuees arrive in Winnipeg as wildfires force thousands out, bring smoke advisories
Trees burned by wildfires in northern Manitoba are shown during a helicopter tour in the surrounding area of Flin Flon, Man., Thursday, June 12, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Deal-Pool WINNIPEG — Evacuees from northern Manitoba continued to pour into Winnipeg Friday as a renewed round of wildfires threatened communities and shrouded much of the province in smoke. 'It's been rough,' Misty Harper said, as she and her partner walked outside of a large indoor soccer complex set up to house evacuees, along with her one-year-old daughter in a stroller. Some people sat at picnic tables under small canopies or on grass in an adjacent field. Buses filled with more evacuees arrived a few times each hour. Harper, her partner and five children were among more than 3,000 people being flown out of Garden Hill First Nation, which is not accessible by road. The family spent several hours at the airport near Garden Hill before arriving late Thursday and sleeping on cots in the soccer complex. They were waiting Friday for word on whether hotel rooms would be available until it's safe for them to return home. 'All the kids were getting tired and moody. Everybody was getting hungry, so it was really stressful,' she said. 'It's hard to sleep in there with all these people. A lot of kids running around and whatnot.' Manitoba is under a provincewide state of emergency as wildfires continue to rage, forcing even more evacuations out of northern communities. The government declared the order Thursday, for the second time this year. With the latest round of fires and evacuations, the province reported more than one million hectares burned — more than 10 times the average over the last 20 years. It is the largest amount of land burned in the 30 years the province has kept electronic records. In total, about 12,600 people are out of their homes in Manitoba. The government gave notice that it intends to use Winnipeg's major convention centre to house more evacuees. An anime conference was taking place at the centre Friday and was set to run all weekend. The military stepped in with a large Hercules transport plane to fly people out of Garden Hill. Harper and some others were taken out on smaller planes. Among the other evacuated communities is Snow Lake, a town 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg with about 1,000 residents. Mayor Ron Scott said people left by highway earlier in the week and he was planning to leave Friday. 'Everyone that needs to be out is gone now,' he said. A wildfire was about six kilometres away from the town's doorstep — some 10 kilometres closer than it was two days earlier. 'It's a bit of a guessing game right now,' Scott said. Manitoba RCMP said officers helped complete evacuations in Snow Lake, Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids, Granville Lake and Mathias Colomb Cree Nation. Environment Canada has issued air quality warnings and advisories for much of the province, including Winnipeg. Some people, including seniors and those with heart and lung issues, are at greater risk due to air pollution. In Saskatchewan, crews worked frantically overnight to save buildings in the evacuated village of Beauval, 340 kilometres north of Saskatoon. Steve Roberts, with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, said so far they have been successful, with only one shed and a car burned. Beauval has seen 560 residents leave. The area is threatened by the Muskeg fire, which has now expanded to 950 square kilometres. Road access has been cut to the community of Patuanak, north of Beauval and home to about 700 residents. About 120 high-priority cases, including seniors and young children and those with medical issues, were being airlifted out. In total there are just under 1,000 people out of their homes due to wildfires in Saskatchewan, most of them in the area in and around Beauval. Crews are battling 57 fires, 14 of which are out of control. Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press
National Post
11-07-2025
- Climate
- National Post
Manitoba is under province-wide emergency order as wildfires continue to burn
Article content Manitoba is under a provincewide state of emergency as wildfires continue to rage, forcing even more evacuations out of northern communities. Article content The government declared the order Thursday, for the second time this year, and with the latest round of fires and evacuations, the province reported more than one million hectares burned — more than 10 times the average over the last 20 years. Article content Article content Article content Article content In total, about 12,600 people are out of their homes in Manitoba. The government gave notice that it intends to use Winnipeg's major convention centre to house evacuees. Article content The military stepped in Wednesday evening with a large Hercules transport plane to fly people out of Garden Hill First Nation as fires approached. The community of more than 3,000 residents is some 500 kilometres north of Winnipeg and not accessible by road. Article content In Saskatchewan, officials said there were 56 active fires as of Thursday. Less than 1,000 people remain evacuated there. Article content
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Vast Wildfires Force Manitoba to Declare Second Emergency This Year
The government of Manitoba declared a state of emergency as more than 100 wildfires burned Friday in the central Canadian province, where blazes are on pace to scorch the most land in 31 years. Wildfires have burned 2.5 million acres of land this year, provincial officials said on Thursday at a news briefing. On Friday morning, at least a dozen fires were considered out of control. At this pace, Manitoba is set to see the most land burned by wildfires since at least 1994, according to provincial data. Higher temperatures this summer are aggravating Canada's wildfire season, which usually runs from March through October. Most blazes in Canada are triggered by lightning strikes. Winnipeg, the provincial capital, was under a severe thunderstorm warning overnight. Nine communities were under mandatory evacuation orders and cleared out in the past few days, including the town of Snow Lake, south of Winnipeg, and the Garden Hill First Nation in the middle of the province. 'The primary reason that we have called this latest state of emergency is because we need access to more facilities to be able to shelter this large number of Manitobans who are being forced to flee their homes as a result of these wildfires,' Wab Kinew, the premier of Manitoba, said on Thursday. More than 4,000 people were evacuated from the Garden Hill reservation on Thursday, he said, adding that evacuees would be housed in Winnipeg's Billy Mosienko Arena and RBC Convention Center. The federal government has sent an air force plane to help transport evacuees, according to Eleanor Olszewski, the minister of emergency management and community resilience. Mr. Kinew said American firefighters were on the ground in Manitoba to help put out wildfires. He criticized members of the U.S. Congress for politicizing the wildfires, after six Republican representatives from Minnesota and Wisconsin wrote a letter asking the Canadian government to mitigate the fires, which cause smoke and ash to blow over the border, limiting summertime activities in those two American states. 'This is what turns people off from politics, when you have a group of Congresspeople trying to trivialize and make hay out of a wildfire season when we've lost lives in our province,' Mr. Kinew said on Thursday. Mr. Kinew declared a state of emergency in May as wildfires killed two people in Manitoba and 30,000 people fled their homes in Manitoba and neighboring Saskatchewan.
