Gusting winds worsen wildfire near The Pas, creating 'really big beast' and forcing more evacuations
'It was extremely terrifying for many, many people': emergency co-ordinator Lori Forbes
A Manitoba wildfire threatening various communities over the past week was intensified by strong winds overnight, forcing hundreds more people to evacuate.
"A lot of them came very quickly, as these winds were pretty crazy last night, which is so strange in the night," Lori Forbes, emergency co-ordinator for the rural municipality of Kelsey around The Pas, in northwestern Manitoba, said Friday morning.
"We had very many areas immediately under threat. It was extremely terrifying for many, many people," she said. "These winds keep changing a little bit and sending it in a different direction."
Everyone was forced out of the community of Wanless, north of The Pas, as well as along the east and north shores of Rocky Lake, while a number of residents in the Carrot Valley and Clearwater Lake Provincial Park were also ushered out.
"One minute everything was fine and [we're] not really concerned. And within 15 minutes, the wind changed and we had to get people out right now. So yeah, it's been a very busy, long night," Forbes told CBC Manitoba Information Radio host Marcy Markusa.
"This is a really big beast."
The fire is just west and northwest of The Pas — close enough to cause thick smoke and ash in town but not yet threatening it, Forbes said.
It was first detected on May 3 and grew from 100 hectares to 6,600 within four days. The winds have now pushed it well beyond that, growing out of control to just over 21,000 hectares on Friday, Forbes said.
With dry and warm conditions, there are concerns the wildfire will continue growing in different directions, so Forbes said evacuees won't return home for now.
Two of the evacuees on Thursday night were Delaney McIntyre and her son, who had to leave Sunset Beach in Clearwater Lake Provincial Park.
McIntyre posted a video on Facebook showing flames incinerating trees just off the side of the road, filling the sky with dark smoke and ash.
"I wasn't expecting to see fire that close. I was kind of concerned it may have jumped the road and I wasn't sure if everyone was going to be able to get out," she told Markusa.
McIntyre lives in Opaskwayak Cree Nation in The Pas area, but was staying in Clearwater to look after a property that belongs to her sister, who is away in Mexico. The road she was on serves several beach communities in the area, "and there's only one way out, one way in," she said.
In her Facebook post, she wrote "fires are coming from every angle."
She said her son was scared so she tried to joke and laugh so as not to alarm him even more.
WATCH | Fire restrictions in effect amid dry, windy conditions:
By noon on Friday, Forbes said at least 267 residents had evacuated locations in the RM of Kelsey, while crews had counted just over 90 evacuees from the Clearwater Lake Provincial Park area.
"Whether we're going to evacuate more today or not, it's really going to depend on that fire," she said.
Evacuees have had to find room with family and friends because all hotels in The Pas are full, Forbes said. Others have driven south to Swan River and Dauphin and even farther, to Winnipeg — about 520 kilometres as the crow flies southeast of The Pas — and Brandon.
Forbes is meeting with the Manitoba Wildfire Service on Friday to get an update on the situation and damages.
'Extremely challenging day'
"I can tell you that yesterday was an extremely challenging day for the Manitoba Wildfire Service — really, really stressful," Premier Wab Kinew told Markusa in a Friday morning Information Radio interview.
Another fire near a gold mine under construction in the Lynn Lake area was causing a great deal of concern until rain arrived yesterday and helped ease the situation, he said.
And there's a fire on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, near Black River, where some preliminary precautionary evacuations are taking place for people with breathing conditions, Kinew said.
"So unfortunately, we do have Manitobans out of their homes today."
The lack of rain in other parts of the province prompted the Manitoba Wildfire Service to implement restrictions starting Friday morning, including a total ban on all motorized backcountry travel.
There is also a ban on all fires between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., while those outside of the prohibited hours must be in an approved campfire pit.
Provincial burn permits issued under the Wildfires Act in the eastern and Interlake regions are also cancelled, and none will be issued until fire danger conditions improve.
A map of the affected areas is available on the province's website.
"It's a very challenging situation already, so as you head out this weekend for your plans, please take a look at what all the restrictions are," Kinew said.
At an unrelated news conference on Friday, the premier asked even those living in areas not currently under fire bans to avoid lighting recreational fires this weekend, given that a fire that gets out of control could pull first responder resources from areas of the province dealing with fires.
"We need to work together to help support those on the front lines," Kinew said.
The province is also discouraging travel into backcountry areas, and will not issue any burn permits until further notice, according to its latest fire bulletin, issued Friday afternoon.
The premier also announced crews from British Columbia will come to Manitoba to help in the wildfire fight.
18 fires in Manitoba
Forest and grass fires put four communities in Manitoba's Interlake into a state of emergency earlier this week, but with the blazes at Peguis, Pinaymootang, Kinonjeoshtegon and Lake Manitoba First Nations under control, the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council lifted the states of emergency on Friday.
Cornell McLean, chief of Lake Manitoba First Nation, said the fires burned three to five homes in his community, but no one was killed.
RCMP have since charged a 55-year-old man with arson in connection with the fire in Lake Manitoba First Nation, which police said started as a controlled burn that swiftly grew into a wildfire that spread over 200 hectares.
A 46-year-old man is also charged with arson after lighting a controlled fire on Wednesday that damaged a residence and burned a shed in Sagkeeng First Nation, roughly 120 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
There are 18 fires burning in the province on Friday afternoon, covering more than 26,000 hectares, according to the Manitoba government FireView map, which displays the location and status of current wildfire activity in the province.
All are listed as being started by humans and five are currently out of control, though the one near The Pas is by far the largest.
Information on that situation is constantly being posted on the RM of Kelsey website and Facebook page, Forbes said, and many communities and cottagers' associations are also posting updates on their social media channels.
WATCH | More evacuations as gusting winds worsen wildfire near The Pas:
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With files from Matt Humphrey