Sarah Mills: Early wildfire season raises questions about prevention
Wildfires have forced thousands of people in Saskatchewan to leave their homes, and the summer hasn't even started yet. ...
WINNIPEG — Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says thousands more evacuees are expected and the city of Flin Flon is virtually deserted as wildfires continue to rage in his province.
Kinew told a Friday news conference that the mayor, councillors, health-care staff and other officials have had to depart Flin Flon.
“The only folks remaining on the ground are firefighters and folks in the office of the fire commissioner and RCMP, who are there to battle the blaze,” Kinew said.
“We do expect some very, very challenging conditions in Flin Flon and in the surrounding community.”
He added, “Pray for rain.”
The evacuees are among 17,000 people reported so far to be out of their homes due to a number of wildfires burning in remote regions from Manitoba’s northwest to the southeast.
Kinew said as the fires grow, thousands more evacuees can be expected and that communities like Winnipeg, Thompson and The Pas have already stepped up to help provide food and shelter.
He said he spoke with some evacuees in Winnipeg.
“(It’s) very scary, very tiring, long days for people who’ve been on the road and in the air to find their way to safety,” he said.
Kinew said more outside help has arrived, including 125 firefighters from the United States.
He said Canadian Armed Forces personnel are flying out evacuees from the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, north of Flin Flon.
He said the airport near Mathias Colomb, also known as Pukatawagan, has not been damaged by the fire.
Prime Minister Mark Carney convened the incident response group on Friday to address the wildfire situation in Western Canada and elsewhere in the country.
The group, consisting of senior ministers and officials, was briefed on the federal government’s efforts to support affected communities, including the evacuation at Mathias Colomb, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Friday evening.
“The prime minister has been in close contact with the premiers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan,” the statement said.
“Various arms of the federal government are working with premiers and the Canadian Armed Forces. All orders of government are engaged, including with Indigenous leadership.”
However, the head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said the situation is becoming dire and they are being kept in the dark on what’s to be done.
“Nobody is communicating with us. Nobody is communicating with our leadership,” Grand Chief Kyra Wilson told a news conference in Winnipeg earlier Friday.
“We have people that are waiting to be evacuated.
She said communities are asking for firefighting equipment, including water pumps and hoses, but getting only vague assurances that it’s on the way.
“We have communities that have no electricity,” she added.
“They have no water. They’re running out of fuel, running out food.”
In an emailed statement, the office of National Defence Minister David McGuinty said flights and crews are on scene to get everyone out as quickly as possible.
“RCAF aircraft departed Winnipeg and Trenton this morning to conduct air evacuation,” said the statement.
“The CAF is also deploying liaison and co-ordination personnel to support the local incident command post, including assistance with airstrip deconfliction and management to ensure the safe and efficient flow of evacuation flights.”
Earlier Friday, Flin Flon Mayor George Fontaine said fierce winds were threatening to breach city limits and begin burning structures in the city of 5,000, located 630 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
All residents, along with 1,000 more in the surrounding area, have had to leave.
“Unless we get one heck of a boost, (the fire) is projected to take chunks out of our town and surrounding areas,” Fontaine said in an interview.
“It’s looking very ugly right now.
“We’re begging for air support (to help douse the fire). It’s really crucial.”
Winnipeg has opened up public buildings for evacuees as it deals with hotels already crammed with other fire refugees, vacationers, business people and conventiongoers. The province declared a provincewide state of emergency this week to help various levels of government coordinate a response.
The fire menacing Flin Flon began Monday near Creighton, Sask., and quickly jumped the boundary into Manitoba. It has grown rapidly and as of early Friday stood at 380 square kilometres.
Crews have struggled to contain it. Water bombers have been intermittently grounded due to heavy smoke and a drone incursion.
The 1,200 or so residents of Creighton have also been ordered out, many of whom have gone to nearby Nipawin, Sask. In total, more than 8,000 people have fled wildfires in Saskatchewan.
Steve Roberts from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency told reporters Friday winds have pushed wildfires significant distances.
The fire near Creighton and Flin Flon is moving towards those communities, and crews are preparing to put up barriers should flames get to the outskirts, he said.
Officials also said multiple structures have been lost in a fire near East Trout Lake, but exact numbers aren’t known.
Winds are expected to shift, said the agency’s Marlo Pritchard.
“A lot of the smoke that has been sitting for the last day or so will be moving south,” he said. “In the next 24 to 48 hours, the communities in the south of the province will experience extreme smoke conditions.”
Roberts said a separate fire has reached just outside Pelican Narrows, about 510 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.
Meanwhile, Alberta, which has taken the brunt of wildfire damage in recent years, has been comparatively better off.
But the 1,300 residents of Swan Hills, northwest of Edmonton, have been ordered out, as have the 900 residents of Chateh in the northwestern corner of the province.
Firefighters battling a blaze near Chipewyan Lake, Alta., lost radio contact late Thursday and were forced to take shelter at the local fire hall and school.
Alberta Forestry Minister Todd Loewen, on social media, said smoke has stymied attempts to get them out. He also said some structures have been damaged by the fire, but it’s unclear how badly they were hit.
— By Jeremy Simes in Regina and Aaron Sousa in Edmonton, with files from Matthew Scace in Calgary.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2025.
The Canadian Press
