Latest news with #Pimicikamak
CBC
3 hours ago
- Climate
- CBC
Pimicikamak chief frustrated with residents refusing to flee wildfire, says arrests should be made
Pimicikamak Cree Nation leaders are still working to get the final few community members to safety as emergency crews fight an out-of-control wildfire, and Chief David Monias is exasperated with residents who've refused to leave. "We had to really get people out now, because it's really hard to focus on the strategies for fighting this fire when you have to worry about lives, that the people that are still here," he said Tuesday morning. "They want to bunker down and think that they can survive it, but if those fire embers come in … they don't understand the dynamics of what the fire does and how it behaves. They feel like they're saving their homes." There are two fires, one on either side of the community, about 520 kilometres north of Winnipeg. The fire about 13½ kilometres southwest of Pimicikamak is approximately 3,300 hectares and out of control. Despite the distance, embers the size of Monias' hand have been blowing in from that blaze, and they're still warm when they land, he said. "Which means that all the fire embers are flying and [potentially] starting new fires. That's what we're scared of." The other fire, about five kilometres west, is 2,287 hectares in size and also listed as out of control. Monias learned around 5 p.m. Monday that the fire had jumped the lake to the mainland. "We saw the fire and it was just rolling over on top of the trees. It's going to roll over towards the other escape route, which would cut us off altogether, even to Norway House," he said. "The other one [is] moving to the north and if it keeps going the same way, it'll come at us … surrounding us." There are about 50 residents who need to leave, and all have been located, Monias said. Some can be reasoned with, but there are others who have said they are absolutely not going — even though they have young children, he said. "They said, 'You're not going to come and get me,' but we are," Monias said. "We'll be rounding those people up with RCMP and security and safety officers, going around to make sure they get on a plane [on Tuesday]." A mandatory evacuation order was issued May 28 for the community. Some residents were flown out, but high winds and smoke grounded flights and closed the airport. The remaining 6,500 residents were told to head to Norway House, even though that community was only expecting 1,000 evacuees. Hundreds of vehicles and buses took people to the ferry for the crossing to that community, but the bottleneck created waits of up to nine hours, prompting some to return to Pimicikamak. On May 30, there were still 1,000 people holding out in Pimicikamak. Since then, military flights from Norway House have taken evacuees out of Norway House, while some flights have managed to land in Pimicikamak, as well. Monias is staying back until the last evacuees are gone, leaving about 60 essential workers and the firefighters in the community. Monias and the essential workers will then make their way out, hopefully by Wednesday, he said. Some essential workers were sent on a bus Monday night to Norway House to be picked up by a Hercules military plane. One of the Hercules had tried to land twice in Pimicikamak on Monday but was repelled by thick smoke. Pimicikamak Coun. Shirley Robinson has been meeting with evacuees when they arrive in Winnipeg. "That really hurt, seeing your people come off the Hercules with their children, holding their children's hands and their little infant babies. It hurt me. It broke me. I'll say that. It really broke me," she said. Monias is calling for the RCMP and government to better support communities where residents refuse evacuation orders — even if it means making arrests. "We need to have enforcement … that people can be forced to leave for their own safety and also for our safety, because if we have to try and rescue somebody and move people, it endangers our lives, as well," he said. "It would have been good to have more RCMP deployed over here so they can do more enforcement and … to say, 'OK, yeah, you can arrest these people if they don't want to move for their own safety." In those circumstances, it would also be helpful to have military go door-to-door to make sure people were packing and leaving, he said.
CTV News
4 hours ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Pimicikamak Cree Nation's wildfire response
Winnipeg Watch Sheena Garrick, evacuation coordinator for Pimicikamak Cree Nation shares how they're protecting community members from wildfire threats through shelter.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Pimicikamak Cree Nation wildfire evacuees to sleep in warm beds at Ontario hotel Sunday
Dozens of wildfire evacuees from Pimicikamak Cree Nation checked into a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ont., on Sunday after days spent without sleep in a Winnipeg evacuation centre. On Saturday, First Nations leaders from across Manitoba called on the federal, provincial and Winnipeg municipal governments to direct city hotels to make space for community members being displaced by more than two dozen wildfires burning across the province. The Manitoba government declared a provincial state of emergency on Wednesday, with more than 17,000 evacuees expected to be fleeing wildfires in northern Manitoba. Pimicikimak Cree Nation was placed under an emergency evacuation order and thousands were forced to leave home as a wildfire burned out of control near the First Nation. As of Sunday afternoon, that fire was 3,300 hectares in size, according to the most recent fire bulletin from the province. Community members from Pimicikamak, also known as Cross Lake, were first sent to Norway House Cree Nation, which has been under an evacuation notice since Wednesday. Residents there were told to prepare for evacuation but have not been ordered to leave. From there, Pimicikamak evacuees were sent to an evacuation centre set up at a soccer complex in north Winnipeg. Sheena Garrick, who works with Jordan's Principle for Pimicikamak Cree Nation, said conditions at the Winnipeg Soccer Federation North facility are "horrible". "Everybody's crying, moms are crying, their kids, they want to go home. It's very heartbreaking," she said, adding the crying has been keeping tired evacuees awake. When the First Nation had the opportunity to send its citizens to a hotel in Niagara Falls, Garrick worked overnight on Saturday to organize a group of 47 people to fill a plane. The evacuees landed in Hamilton on Sunday morning and each had a comfortable place to sleep that night, Garrick said. "There was so much relief. Everybody was smiling. Everybody was so happy coming here to a warm meal, knowing they're gonna have a warm bed," she said. Denny Scott, an officer with Jordan's Principal, said the Pimicikamak evacuees finally had a chance to rest since they were first ordered to leave the First Nation on Wednesday. "But Cross Lake is coming together as one and we're together as one," Scott said. Garrick said her phone has been blowing up with questions from community members about when the next plane is going to leave from Winnipeg. On Sunday, she said two more planes carrying 119 people each were expected to arrive in Ontario. "The chaos that's going on in Winnipeg right now, it's nothing like that. You're going to come here, you're going to be happy. You're going to be comfortable," she said.
CBC
2 days ago
- General
- CBC
Pimicikamak Cree Nation wildfire evacuees to sleep in warm beds at Ontario hotel Sunday
Social Sharing Dozens of wildfire evacuees from Pimicikamak Cree Nation checked into a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ont., on Sunday after days spent without sleep in a Winnipeg evacuation centre. On Saturday, F irst Nations leaders from across Manitoba called on the federal, provincial and Winnipeg municipal governments to direct city hotels to make space for community members being displaced by more than two dozen wildfires burning across the province. The Manitoba government declared a provincial state of emergency on Wednesday, with more than 17,000 evacuees expected to be fleeing wildfires in northern Manitoba. Pimicikimak Cree Nation was placed under an emergency evacuation order and thousands were forced to leave home as a wildfire burned out of control near the First Nation. As of Sunday afternoon, that fire was 3,300 hectares in size, according to the most recent fire bulletin from the province. Community members from Pimicikamak, also known as Cross Lake, were first sent to Norway House Cree Nation, which has also been under an evacuation notice since Wednesday. From there, Pimicikamak evacuees were sent to an evacuation centre set up at a soccer complex in north Winnipeg. Sheena Garrick, who works with Jordan's Principle for Pimicikamak Cree Nation, said conditions at the Winnipeg Soccer Federation North facility are "horrible". "Everybody's crying, moms are crying, their kids, they want to go home. It's very heartbreaking," she said, adding the crying has been keeping tired evacuees awake. When the First Nation had the opportunity to send its citizens to a hotel in Niagara Falls, Garrick worked overnight on Saturday to organize a group of 47 people to fill a plane. The evacuees landed in Hamilton on Sunday morning and each had a comfortable place to sleep that night, Garrick said. "There was so much relief. Everybody was smiling. Everybody was so happy coming here to a warm meal, knowing they're gonna have a warm bed," she said. Denny Scott, an officer with Jordan's Principal, said the Pimicikamak evacuees finally had a chance to rest since they were first ordered to leave the First Nation on Wednesday. "But Cross Lake is coming together as one and we're together as one," Scott said. Garrick said her phone has been blowing up with questions from community members about when the next plane is going to leave from Winnipeg. On Sunday, she said two more planes carrying 119 people each were expected to arrive in Ontario.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
'We take care of each other': Pimicikamak residents pitch in as road opens for wildfire evacuees
The intersection of Highway 6 and PR 373 is about a six-hour drive from Winnipeg, on a section of the major road that runs parallel to the Hudson Bay Railway in Manitoba's north. A sign advising travellers the provincial road was closed could be seen on one side of the rail tracks crossing it Friday afternoon. On the other, a white pickup truck greeted vehicles with its own sign: "Food and water for evacuees." "The road is open and we figured the people would be hungry, stressed out," said Darryl McIvor. He and his family were handing out sandwiches and chips to people coming out of Pimicikamak Cree Nation, also known as Cross Lake. "It's our people and we have to look after each other." Around 1,000 Pimicikamak residents were still in the northern Manitoba First Nation as of Friday morning, three days after the community was ordered to evacuate because of a nearby wildfire. PR 373 — the only road connecting Pimicikamak and nearby Norway House to the rest of Manitoba — was temporarily opened to drivers exiting those communities later that day. Brenda Monias was on her way from Pimicikamak to Thompson, where her daughter lives. The drive "was smoky," Monias said. "There's still some hot spots. Still a bit of fire here and there on the side of the road." The blaze near Pimicikamak was about 3,290 hectares and out of control as of the province's latest fire bulletin Friday afternoon. More than 6,000 residents were told to head to Norway House even though that community was only expecting 1,000 evacuees 'Very chaotic' Pimicikamak Chief David Monias told CBC News Friday afternoon 3,332 people had been waiting in Norway House to be flown out that morning. "We had about 11 to 12 Hercules planes that were picking up the people," Monias said, though he added he was still waiting for information from the Canadian Armed Forces as to how many residents were flown out. "We have a co-ordinator there and she doesn't even have time to talk to us because it's very chaotic, because they're trying to get everybody out." Monias had told CBC that morning residents decided to return to the community in spite of the evacuation order out of frustration, amid long waits for ferries and unavailable airlifts. PR 373 was open to evacuees until 8 p.m. Those leaving from Norway House had to be across the ferry that crosses the Nelson River at the community's entrance by service cutoff at 7 p.m. Thelma Muskego was at the junction with Highway 6 to pick up her son, who was coming down the road from Norway House with Muskego's brother. She said she'd been stranded in Thompson since Sunday, after Pimicikamak began moving elderly and other vulnerable residents out of the community because of the heavy smoke. "My son didn't want to leave … because we had another fire two years ago and he's kind of like traumatized and scared to go through that again, to drive through," she said. "We had to assure him that was OK." Hanson Richard was heading for Winnipeg. "That's the instruction from our incident team," he said. "Thompson is full. There's evacuations all over, right? Lynn Lake. Now I hear Split Lake." 'One way in, one way out' Premier Wab Kinew said in a news conference Friday the government expected to reach about 17,000 wildfire evacuees in total later that day. "I'm just glad that everybody is doing a great job for us," Richard said. "Our incident team back home. Firefighters, of course, doing an awesome job … and a special shout-out to Norway House." Richard said when something like the wildfire happens, they're all "one big family." "We take care of each other," he said. "We only have one highway to share. Only one way in, one way out." Darryl McIvor said he figured he'd come to the junction to see people, including family, as they travelled by while also helping out. McIvor said he may be back out there another time to lend other evacuees a hand — even after they're given the go-ahead to return home. "It'll be a relief to come back but, you know, people still get stressed out when they leave home," he said. Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@
