Lac du Bonnet wildfire forces out nearly 1,000 people during 'very dark day' in eastern Manitoba

Hundreds of people have been forced out of a swath of cottage country in eastern Manitoba as a raging out-of-control wildfire near Lac du Bonnet quickly grew in intensity through the late afternoon and evening on Tuesday.

"Yesterday was a very dark day for our region here, certainly," Loren Schinkel, reeve of the rural municipality of Lac du Bonnet, said Wednesday morning.

"Late last night, we extended the evacuation order for the seventh time because of the situation where the wind shifted. I would estimate that there's 800 to 1,000 people that have been displaced from their residences as of last night."

Cooler temperatures have moved into the province, but "we're still not out of the woods here, so to speak, because the fire is still burning," and there is concern the new winds, now coming from the north rather than the south, will push the flames back across Highway 313, he told CBC Manitoba Information Radio host Marcy Markusa.

"I have to commend all of the people that were out on the front lines trying to save properties throughout the night. The RCMP certainly were out there protecting life and/or property, and our front-line crews were out there trying to save properties as well," Schinkel said.

There are no reports of injuries but there has been "significant loss of structures" around the Wendigo Beach area, he said.

"We're still not certain of the amount of damage in those areas, but that assessment will be a process that's ongoing today," he said.

"It burned so quickly yesterday. The fire was jumping. It was a tough day."

The wildfire near Lac du Bonnet is one of 24 actively burning in Manitoba, provincial officials said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister for the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization, said the fire was still out of control and of "predominant concern" for the province.

"We are looking at … very challenging conditions. We have hot weather right now, we have dry conditions, we have had some windy days, and we expect that to continue," Hayward said. Although there is some precipitation in the forecast, it's not enough, she said.

The fire stretched to about 3,000 hectares by Wednesday at noon.

While there are other wildfires that have burned larger areas, it was safer for crews to tackle the blaze near Lac du Bonnet than at others experiencing "extremely volatile" behaviour, Hayward said. 

There was also a public safety risk.

"We are not seeing a typical fire season anymore," Hayward said. "We wouldn't be seeing this level of activity happening until later on in the summer.… Our seasons are starting a lot earlier."

Updates on the fire are being posted on the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet website.

John Fleming, emergency co-ordinator for the RM of Lac du Bonnet, posted a message on the organization's Facebook page Wednesday morning, saying an assessment of properties affected by the fire will be done immediately in order to update everyone on the status of their properties.

"I ask for your patience as this is a large undertaking and we want to be accurate with our information sharing," he wrote.

Electricity has been disrupted, with burned hydro poles and wires on the ground in some areas. That has to be fixed before anyone can go back.

The RCMP have sent additional officers to the Lac du Bonnet region to assist with evacuations, patrol evacuated areas and provide other supports required by local authorities, the Mounties said in a news release Tuesday night.

That includes a team of 12 highly trained officers from the search and rescue unit, the release said.

They have set up roadblocks along multiple points of Highway 313, with only emergency personnel allowed to pass.

Evacuation orders for the RM of Lac du Bonnet include:

• All subdivisions south of Highway 313 off Urban Road, Belluk Road, Lee Dale Estates and Bonnet Oaks South.
• Wendigo Road and adjoining subdivisions from Highway 313 to and including Grausdin Point.
• Highway 433 and Cape Coppermine Road from Lagsdin Way to, and including, Cape Coppermine and all adjoining subdivisions.
• Highway 433 from Lagsdin Way to Highway 313.
• North and west side of Highway 313, from Highway 433 to the RM of Alexander.

Evacuees must report to the Lac du Bonnet community hall on McArthur Avenue in the town of Lac du Bonnet to register. Anyone who has left the area without registering is asked to call 204-345–2860 to register.

The fire has not yet been added to the province's online fire map, which shows 22 other fires burning in the province, including another one near the Lac du Bonnet fire that has prompted evacuation orders and states of local emergency around Nopiming, Wallace Lake, South Atikaki and Manigotagan River provincial parks.

Evacuations have also been ordered in Whiteshell Provincial Park in response to an out-of-control wildfire along the Ontario border.

A mandatory evacuation in the Pointe du Bois area was also ordered on Tuesday.

Manitoba Hydro announced Wednesday it is shutting down its Slave Falls and Pointe du Bois generating stations and evacuating them due to the fire situation.

Both stations are located on the Winnipeg River, and the Lac du Bonnet fire is threatening to cut off road access to the facilities, Hydro said in a news release.

The shutdown will result in the loss of about 70 megawatts of generating capacity but will not affect service to Manitoba Hydro customers as other facilities can compensate, the release said.

Hydro crews are also working to de-energize lines in the wildfire area to reduce the risk to firefighters. Service to some customers in those areas has already been lost due to damaged poles, lines and other equipment.

Hydro won't know the extent of damage until it can safely access the areas to have a look.

As of Wednesday morning, about 200 customers are without power in the Wendigo Beach area at Lac du Bonnet, about 300 in the Bird Lake and Booster Lake areas, about 900 on the west side of the Lee River, and about 100 in the Beresford Lake area.

Stephan Bouderlique was on his way Tuesday to Birds Hill, north of Winnipeg, when he found out his home at the corner of Highways 313 and 315 was in an evacuation zone.

"We couldn't go back, so all I had was my clothes on my back [and] my bike, and my wife had left for an appointment in [Winnipeg], so she has nothing as well," he said.

The couple is now staying in a hotel in Sekirk and keeping tabs on their house through security cameras they have set up around the property.

"Everything's good, power's still on. We'll see about the winds today, but there is a little bit of concern as to how fast it's going to track," Bouderlique said.

"The only thing I've got going for me is that … the closest tree line is about 100 metres away, but Mother Nature is going to do what Mother Nature is going to do. I guess that's the price you pay for living in paradise."

The couple has owned the lakefront property since 2005 and has never experienced a threat like this.

"My biggest concern was either fire or tornado, but that's about it. And well, fire has come true. So we'll see how that goes," Bouderlique said.