Flin Flon evacuees adjusting to life in Winnipeg, thankful to be safe from out-of-control blaze

Wildfire evacuees staying in an arena in Winnipeg say it's been hard being forced out of their homes as an out-of-control fire edges closer to the northwestern Manitoba city of Flin Flon — but they're grateful to be safe.

Kyler Colomb and members of his family are among the Flin Flon evacuees who spent Thursday night at south Winnipeg's Century Arena.

"I wish there was a little bit of heat last night — I was kind of freezing — but I'm just glad that there's a roof over my head tonight," Colomb said Friday morning. He hopes his family can be moved into hotels soon.

Juliet Stenbeck, who was also staying at the arena, said she felt the same way.

"It was cold — but I liked it, because I was with my family," she said.

Colomb said when evacuees arrived at the arena, they were all given a blanket, a pillow and a cot to sleep on, and families stuck together with larger groups on one side of the arena and smaller ones closer to the middle. He thinks the experience has been especially difficult for younger kids.

"They don't know what's going on — they're scared, I bet. Last night was a lot of crying, you know? One of the kids pulled the fire alarm, and I actually got up in panic mode," he said, thinking at first he would have to evacuate again.

"It was like, I just got as much stuff as I could to come here, and now I have to leave everything in there."

Colomb is also still thinking about his dog, who he had to leave behind during the evacuations. 

"He's like my other half of my heart, and right now it's just broken. Without him, I'm just — I don't know, it's hard to, like, find out who I am without that dog."

The wildfire situation has reached a desperate level in Flin Flon, where the mayor said Friday he and the few remaining people who aren't actively fighting the fire had been told to leave, because the winds are changing and there's nothing else they can do.

"The prognosis that we're hearing is that the winds are going to change and turn that fire back towards our community, and it could be very catastrophic if that happens," George Fontaine told Heather Hiscox on CBC Morning Live on Friday. "It's got a straight path into here."

The fire is 40,000 hectares in size and less than 400 metres from the edge of the city, the city's emergency measures spokesperson said.

'Never seen nothing like that'

Century Arena is one of several sports facilities across Winnipeg where space has been made available for wildfire evacuees, along with YMCA-YWCA locations and hotel rooms, where possible.

One silver lining in it all was the food evacuees got, Colomb said — including pizza, spaghetti and salad for dinner and scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and yogurt for breakfast. 

For Colomb, the focus now is on trying to find work as a labourer while in Winnipeg.

"I'm currently just trying to stay busy," he said. "It's hard. I'm going to go broke, and I don't want that happening."

It wasn't just Flin Flon residents forced out by the wildfire. Flat roofer Gregory Doucette said he was in town from Ontario to help a friend on his house when the blaze started closing in.

"I've never even been close to a fire like that, never. Never seen nothing like that, don't ever want to see it again," said Doucette, who piled into a school bus with many others from Flin Flon for the hours-long trip to Winnipeg.

"[I was] a little scared, not knowing what was going on, seeing all the smoke and flame. And so I was kind of happy to get out of there."

He said Friday he plans to buy a ticket back to Toronto as soon as he can.

As of Thursday (the most recent update from the province), there were 22 active wildfires in Manitoba. There have been a total of 103 already this season, far above the province's 20-year annual average of 80 at this time of year.

The Manitoba FireView map includes locations, sizes and other information about the wildfires.

Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@findhelp.ca.