Pimicikamak chief frustrated with residents refusing to flee wildfire, says arrests should be made

Pimicikamak Cree Nation leaders are still working to get the final few community members to safety as emergency crews fight an out-of-control wildfire, and Chief David Monias is exasperated with residents who've refused to leave.

"We had to really get people out now, because it's really hard to focus on the strategies for fighting this fire when you have to worry about lives," he said Tuesday morning.

"They want to bunker down and think that they can survive it, but if those fire embers come in … they don't understand the dynamics of what the fire does and how it behaves. They feel like they're saving their homes."

There are two fires, one on either side of the community about 520 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

The fire about 13½ kilometres southwest of Pimicikamak is approximately 3,300 hectares and out of control.

Despite the distance, embers the size of Monias's hand have been blowing in from that blaze, and they're still warm when they land, he said.

"Which means that all the fire embers are flying and [potentially] starting new fires. That's what we're scared of."

The other fire, about five kilometres west, is 2,287 hectares in size and also listed as out of control. Monias learned around 5 p.m. Monday that the fire had jumped the lake to the mainland.

"We saw the fire and it was just rolling over on top of the trees. It's going to roll over towards the other escape route, which would cut us off altogether, even to Norway House," he said.

"The other one [is] moving to the north and if it keeps going the same way, it'll come at us … surrounding us."

Right now it's on both sides of Manitoba Hydro's Jenpeg generating station, but power hasn't yet been lost in the community, Monias said.

There are about 50 residents who need to leave immediately, and all have been located, he said. Some can be reasoned with, he said, but there are others who have said they are absolutely not going — even though they have young children.

"They said, 'You're not going to come and get me,' but we are," Monias said.

"We'll be rounding those people up with RCMP and security and safety officers, going around to make sure they get on a plane [on Tuesday]."

A mandatory evacuation order for the community was issued May 28. Some residents were flown out, but high winds and smoke grounded flights and closed the airport.

The remaining 6,500 residents were told to head to Norway House, even though that community was only expecting 1,000 evacuees.

Hundreds of vehicles and buses took people to the ferry for the crossing to that community, but the bottleneck created waits of up to nine hours, prompting some to return to Pimicikamak. On May 30, there were still 1,000 people holding out in Pimicikamak.

Since then, military flights from Norway House have taken evacuees out of Norway House, while some flights have managed to land in Pimicikamak, as well.

The Canadian Armed Forces, in an email to CBC News on Tuesday, said the military has evacuated more than 3,500 people from fire zones in the province, with work in the past 24 hours taking people from Pimicikamak to Winnipeg and from Pukatawagan to The Pas.

Monias intends to stay back until the last evacuees are gone from Pimicikamak, which would leave about 60 essential workers and the firefighters in the community.

The essential workers will then make their way out, hopefully by Wednesday, he said.

Some essential workers were sent on a bus Monday night to Norway House to be picked up by a Hercules military plane.

One of the Hercules had tried to land twice in Pimicikamak on Monday but was repelled by thick smoke.

Pimicikamak Coun. Shirley Robinson has been meeting with evacuees when they arrive in Winnipeg.

"That really hurt, seeing your people come off the Hercules with their children, holding their children's hands and their little infant babies. It hurt me. It broke me. I'll say that. It really broke me," she said.

Monias is calling for the RCMP and government to better support communities where residents refuse evacuation orders — even if it means making arrests.

"We need to have enforcement … that people can be forced to leave for their own safety and also for our safety, because if we have to try and rescue somebody and move people, it endangers our lives, as well," he said.

"It would have been good to have more RCMP deployed over here so they can do more enforcement and … to say, 'OK, yeah, you can arrest these people if they don't want to move for their own safety."

In those circumstances, it would also be helpful to have military go door-to-door to make sure people pack and leave, he said.

RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Paul Manaigre said the Mounties have been working closely with First Nations safety officers to get everyone to safety.

"As with any evacuation, there are often residents who do not wish to leave the community. Our officers were advised late last night that some residents were hiding to avoid being evacuated," he said in an email to CBC News.

"Be assured that Manitoba RCMP officers will remain in the community to ensure everyone's safety. That is our commitment to Pimicikamak Cree Nation and to all communities that are being threatened by wildfires."

Yellow to orange to red sky

While others head away from the area, trucker Leighton Guenther was going toward Norway House on Monday, hauling a load of food to supply convenience and grocery stores.

On Highway 6, he passed fire crews near Grand Rapids, working to extinguish flames at the edge of the road. He eventually turned onto Highway 373, which passes the Jenpeg station.

"The further I got down [Highway 373], I'd seen people making their way back, and they were waving at me, telling me to stop," Guenther said.

He went a bit farther and saw flames shooting up from the treetops. 

"Gives you a little bit of an eerie feeling, 'cause I got a big semi, and you have to get out of the way of that in a hurry. The wind was coming up and it seemed to be moving in my direction," Guenther said.

He reversed several kilometres until he found a place to turn the rig around, then went back to Highway 6. He started to head to Thompson, but "as I progressed, the sky went from yellow to orange to red."

He decided to backtrack again, and ended up just outside Wabowden, settling in overnight in his truck.

"Gotta keep the windows closed for the night," he said, because the smoke was thick enough to make breathing a little tough.

"I haven't been in this bad of a situation; I've never seen the skies red like I've seen tonight."

His advice for anyone else heading into that region? Just don't.

Edmund Bradburn left Norway House on Monday to drop his granddaughter off with his daughter, so the two of them could head to Winnipeg.

When he tried to return down Highway 373, it was closed by RCMP. And he understood why — the smoke was so thick, it was hard to see past the front end of the vehicle he was driving.

He and other drivers had pulled to the shoulder of the road to spend the night, not sure if the highway would reopen anytime soon.

"This thing, when it goes, it goes. It's too dry," Bradburn said about the wildfire.

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