Wave of Sapotaweyak fire evacuees head home, but return timeline unclear for eastern First Nations

About 350 people from Sapotaweyak Cree Nation went home on the weekend after spending two weeks in hotels due to a wildfire evacuation, but people from two eastern Manitoba First Nations still have no idea when they'll get to return.

On May 20, wildfires forced roughly 900 people to leave the community, about 400 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. Evacuees have been staying in hotels in The Pas, Swan River and Brandon.

A third of those people drove or bused home on the weekend after the evacuation order was lifted, Red Cross spokesperson Jason Small said. The rest will head back on Monday and Tuesday, with the elderly and those with health complications set to return Thursday, he said.

The wildfire knocked out power to the community, but power was restored to last week, Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Bruce Owen said.

Refrigerated and frozen food spoiled as a result of the outages, so plans are underway to replace fridges, freezers and food for Sapotaweyak residents this week, Small said.

The same will be done for those from Little Grand Rapids and Pauignassi, though it's still unclear when the more than 1,300 evacuees from those two communities will be allowed to go home.

They were forced to leave starting on May 22 as a fire almost half the size of Winnipeg neared the two First Nations, two adjacent communities about 270 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg that are about 20 kilometres apart.

A group of 14 volunteers from Little Grand Rapids returned late last week to assess the damage and begin a cleanup effort. Evacuees remain in Winnipeg hotels.

A community health representative from Little Grand Rapids said last week that he was told it could be a month before people were allowed to go home.

Small said Monday any timelines are just speculation at this point, and no one really knows when residents will be allowed to go back.

It's also unclear when power will get turned back on in those communities, Owen said.

Crews went back Friday to get a sense of what materials are needed to repair damaged power lines, Owen said.

Evacuation orders remain in place for Little Grand Rapids and Pauingassi.