Crews still battling Flin Flon wildfire, even as 'some sense of normality' returns to city
Evacuees allowed to come back Wednesday, but fire near northern Manitoba city remains largest in province
Wildland firefighters from across North America will stay on the front lines of the wildfire near Flin Flon, as residents settle back into life in the northern Manitoba city following a month-long evacuation order.
Improving conditions allowed officials to lift the May 28 evacuation order for the city of roughly 5,000, and residents were able to return as of Wednesday morning.
Flin Flon fire Chief Jason Kuras, whose fire crews have been putting in 18- to 20-hour days since the wildfire crossed the border from Saskatchewan on May 27, says all the hard work was worth it to bring locals home.
"It's absolutely amazing to have everybody back in town here," Kuras said. "It's just really good to have some sense of normality coming back."
In the first few days of the wildfire, Kuras said the city's firefighters — who typically respond to structural fire calls — were alone, fighting right at the edge of the wildfire's front lines.
They worked to contain key areas, as firefighters from across North America were on their way to join.
"We had members doing everything they possibly could, with whatever equipment we could have," Kuras said.
Nearly 200 firefighters from more than 50 municipalities and fire departments answered the call for help, bringing fire trucks, boats and other necessary equipment with them to the city, more than 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
It's a response Kuras said he will forever be grateful for.
Davis Oatway, one of the incident commanders, came up from Utah with his eight-person crew of wildland firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service.
He said the Flin Flon fire is one of the worst he's seen.
"I've certainly been on some very large and very complex wildfires throughout my career, but this is the most challenging incident commander assignment I've ever had," Oatway said.
His crew focused largely on securing the fire perimeter, and protecting the city and nearby lake communities, which helped to hold back the fire, Oatway said.
Now that the city is safe enough to welcome residents home, Oatway said his crew is heading further out into the surrounding fire zone to help fight the blaze.
"We're shifting folks out to the north and east to try and progressively wrap around the fire, because it's giant. It's just going to take time," he said.
Challenges in 'huge co-ordination effort'
With crews and resources coming from all across North America to attack the fire from land, water and air, the provincial fire commissioner's office was called in to co-ordinate the effort.
Incident commander Dave Parker, who works for the Manitoba fire commissioner's office, joined fire officials in Flin Flon about two weeks ago.
Bringing additional crews into a massive firefighting effort, like the one in Flin Flon, is particularly challenging because it means the municipalities they came from need to rely on mutual aid agreements to keep those communities safe while the emergency responders are away.
"It is a big challenge, and it's a huge co-ordination effort to ensure that we have firefighters and apparatus where they're needed, as well as protecting their home communities," Parker said.
Many fire crews will be staying near Flin Flon to keep fighting the wildfire burning beyond the city, he said.
The Flin Flon fire remains the largest currently burning in the province, at more than 370,000 hectares according to the province's fire status report Wednesday. It is still out of control.
Meanwhile, Parker said the fire commissioner's office continues to co-ordinate wildfire efforts across the province.
There were 18 active wildfires across Manitoba as of Wednesday, the province said in its most recent fire bulletin. More than 909,000 hectares have burned.
U.S. firefighter Oatway said there will also likely be smoke around Flin Flon for the foreseeable future.
"There will be smoke continuing, maybe until the snow flies … we don't know. But it is a long-duration wildfire event, so there will be smoke showing for a very long time," he said.
In the meantime, Flin Flon firefighters will be transitioning back to their regular roles, and will hopefully get some much-needed rest, said Kuras.
"My crews are definitely exhausted, but they are just the most amazing group of individuals you could ever ask for," he said.
"All the credit goes to the hardworking firefighters that made it happen."
Find the latest wildfire information at these sources:
Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@findhelp.ca.
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With files from Josh Crabb