Weather ripe for fires to flare again

Provincial fire officials say they have managed to bring the wildfire situation under control in northern Manitoba— at least for the short term.

Ninety-six fires are burning across the province, five fewer than Tuesday. Most of the fires are burning in northern Manitoba.

But Tom Mirus, head of Manitoba Conservation's fire program, says weather conditions are ripe for dangerous situations over the next 24 hours.

"Because of the hot weather we're having and the low relative humidities and the possibility of some thunderstorms, that can give us some starts," Mirus said.

"The forest is extremely dry right now, those starts could be explosive… so it would be a matter of getting to all the starts as quick as we can."

None of the fires are currently endangering communities. The most problematic fires are burning between Snow Lake and Lynn Lake in northwestern Manitoba.

"We've got a couple of crews in there, protecting the hydro line at this time," he said. "We expect that monster to sort of get up and run at us again in the next few days, so we're watching it very closely."

More than 700 firefighters and 40 aircraft are fighting blazes in northern Manitoba, with crews from Ontario, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories pitching in.